Interest Rates On The Rise As Refinancing Applications Fall

Added June 11, 2009 by Jennifer A. Freeman

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Summary: According to the latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage interest rates are rising as refinancing activity continues to fall, but the purchase applications are holding steady.

According to a survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week ended June 5, 2009, mortgage interest rates are increasing, as refinancing activity falls.

The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.57 percent from 5.25 percent.
The average rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.10 percent from 4.80 percent.
The average rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.75 percent from 6.61 percent.

The refinancing activity for the week dropped almost 12 percent from the previous week, but the purchasing activity held fairly steady, increasing 1.1 percent over the previous week. Refinancing fell to to 59.4 percent of total applications from 62.4 percent the previous week. This is the lowest the refinance share has been since November 2008.

The Market Composite Index, or total mortgage loan application activity, decreased 7.2 percent from the week earlier.

Purchase Applications Remain Steady, Refinance Applications Continue to Fall in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 10, 2009) — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 5, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 611.0, a decrease of 7.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 658.7 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 15.7 percent compared with the previous week and increased 7.6 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index decreased 11.8 percent to 2605.7 from 2953.6 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1.1 percent to 270.7 from 267.7 one week earlier.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 8.7 percent. The four week moving average is up 0.5 percent for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 12.2 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 59.4 percent of total applications from 62.4 percent the previous week. This is the lowest the refinance share has been since November 2008. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 3.4 percent from 3.0 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.57 percent from 5.25 percent, with points increasing to 1.09 from 1.02 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.10 percent from 4.80 percent, with points decreasing to 1.04 from 1.10 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.75 percent from 6.61 percent, with points decreasing to 0.10 from 0.15 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

SPECIAL NOTES

The survey covers more than 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.

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