Mortgage Applications Fall For 3rd Straight Week
Summary
“The 30-year fixed-mortgage rate increased for the second week in a row to 5.8%, reaching its highest level since mid-July,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. Purchase applications have declined in eight of the last nine weeks, as demand continues to shrink due to higher rates and a weaker economic outlook.” “However,” he added, “rising inventories and slower home-price growth could potentially bring some buyers back into the market later this year.” • The refinance share of mortgage activity dipped to 30.3% of total applications, from 31.1% the prior week. • The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 8.5% of total applications. The MBA said the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 5.8% from 5.65%, with points increasing to 0.71 from 0.68 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. • The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.1% from 5.01%, with points decreasing to 0.82 from 0.84 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.