Mortgage Rates Stagnant But Refinancing Strong
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Mortgage rates for the week ended October 5 barely budged.
After substantial downward moves over the last ten weeks only the 30-year fixed-rate
mortgage and the one-year ARM changed at all, declining only slightly from the
previous week.
Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey reported that the long-term
mortgage which was 6.31 percent and 0.4 points during the week ended September
28 was 6.30 with 0.3 points last week. The 30-year mortgage has lost 50 basis
points since its 2006 high during the week ended July 20. The 15-year fixed-rate
mortgage was unchanged at 5.98 percent with 0.4 in fees and points.
The 5/1 Treasury-indexed ARM was unchanged at 6.0 with an average of 0.5 point
and the one-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 5.46 percent, a loss of one basis
point from the previous week, while fees and points increased from 0.6 to 0.7.
Freddie Mac noted that home refinancing rose 18 percent last
week, accounting for almost half of all mortgage applications.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey
show rates up across the board for the week ended October 6, but the changes
again were small.
The average contract interest rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased
3 basis points to 6.27 percent and points, including the origination fee, were
up from 1.03 to 1.08. The 15-year fixed rate mortgage increased from 5.86 percent
with 1 point to 5.9 percent with 1.11 points. The one-year ARM moved upward
2 basis points to 5.88 percent and points increased from 0.79 to 0.85.
All mortgage rates
quoted are for 80 percent loan to value contracts.
Mortgage application activity was down slightly from the previous
week, decreasing 5.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. Applications were
down 13.3 percent from the pace one year ago but this is a marked improvement
from the 20 to 30 percent decline in activity that had been reported each week
for most of the year up until late September.
Unlike Freddie Mac, MBA’s survey showed a slight decline in refinancing,
from 46.7 percent of all applications to 46.4 percent. This is still well above
the 34 percent share that had been predicted by many economists for the year.
Applications for adjustable rate mortgages were virtually unchanged; 26.9 percent
of all applications in the latest report, 27 percent the week before.
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