For 1st Time In 6 Weeks, Mortgage Applications Increase
Summary
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 3.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from a week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 11% compared with the previous week, but was 30% lower than a year earlier. “Treasury yields continued to climb higher last week in anticipation of the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, where it is expected that they will announce — in their efforts to slow inflation — another sizable short-term rate hike,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 9.1% of total applications. Other key highlights from the report: • The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 6.25% from 6.01%, with points decreasing to 0.71 from 0.76 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.