Tag Archives: Mortgage Rates

The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI) stalled at 58 in September, unchanged from August's downwardly revised reading, the group reported.

Redfin reported another slip in homebuyer demand in August, with both home tours and offers declining.

Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey shows the average 30-year fixed rate staying put at 4.57 percent (0.8 point) for the week ending September 12.

Mortgage refinance applications went into free-fall last week as interest rates came back up, according to data in the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. The survey's Market Composite Index, a measure of loan application volume, dropped 13.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending September 6. The Refinance Index fell 20 percent week-over-week, bringing it to its lowest level since June 2009.

While FBR Capital Markets says its predictions for origination volume are still "attainable," the company admits its estimates "depend on a stable rate environment or a more robust level of economic activity."

Ascending mortgage rates are starting to weigh on homebuyers nearly as much as low inventory, according to Redfin's Real-Time Homebuyer Survey. Out of homebuyers polled, 63 percent said rates have impacted their ability to buy a home at least "somewhat." When asked how rates have affected their home search, 33 percent said they're speeding up their search before rates get too high, 20 percent said they're slowing their search, and 1 percent have stopped looking altogether.

Though the national unemployment rate continued to fall in August, disappointing payroll numbers over the last several months have analysts wondering what the latest jobs report might mean for the Federal Reserve's plan to taper its monthly asset purchases. "As it stands now, [the six-month payroll] average isn't much higher than it was a year ago when the Fed felt it necessary to launch QE3," commented Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist for the firm.

Mortgage application volume continued to suffer throughout August as interest rates increased, but analysts at Capital Economics note bigger factors at play may aid lending in the near future.

Home prices as measured by CoreLogic increased 12.4 percent year-over-year in July, the company reported in its monthly Home Price Index (HPI) report. "Home prices continue to climb across the nation in July with markets hit hardest during the downturn leading the way," said CoreLogic president and CEO Anand Nallathambi. "Nationally, home prices are now within 18 percent of their peak levels reached in April of 2006." Meanwhile, the Pending HPI indicates that August 2013 home prices will rise 12.3 percent.

National data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) shows mortgage interest rates rising nearly half a percentage point from June to July. According to FHFA's index, which is based on new mortgage contracts, the contract interest rate on the composite of all mortgage loans was 4.00 percent, up 45 basis points from 3.55 percent in June. The effective interest rate (accounting for initial fees and charges over the life of the mortgage) was 4.12 percent, up from 3.67 percent.