Mortgage Applications Are Back Up

Mortgage applications increased this week by 4.2%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Purchase applications increased for the second straight week, driven mostly by conventional applications.

The Refinance Index decreased 3% from the previous week and was 77% lower than the same week a year ago. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 6% compared with the previous week, but was 10% lower than the same week a year ago.

“Mortgage rates continued to surge last week, with the 30-year fixed mortgage rate jumping 33 basis points to 5.98 percent — the highest since November 2008 and the largest single-week increase since 2009," said Joel Kan, MBA's associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. "All other loan types also increased by at least 20 basis points, influenced by the Federal Reserve’s 75-basis-point rate hike and commentary that more are coming to slow inflation.”

“Mortgage rates are now almost double what they were a year ago," he added, "leading to a 77% drop in refinance volume over the past 12 months.” 

The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of applications jumped back to over 10%.

The average loan size was just over $420,000, or well below its $460,000 peak earlier this year. Kan said that could be a sign that home price-growth is moderating.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 5.62% from 5.36%, with points increasing to 1.18 from 1.00.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.05% from 4.79%, with points increasing to 0.86 from 0.80.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 4.78% from 4.57%, with points increasing to 0.84 from 0.80.