Average Mortgage Rates Continue To Rise

Average mortgage rates were up again last week according to both Freddie Mac and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Freddie Mac reported that fixed rate products were up for the fourth week in a row with the 30-year fixed at 5.73 percent compared to 5.66 percent the previous week and the 15-year up 7 basis points to 5.32 percent. Fees and points, however, dropped a bit dramatically, from 0.6 to 0.4 for both kinds of fixed rate mortgages. This is the lowest point for fees and points this year.

The 5/1 hybrid ARM was also up from 5.15 percent for the previous week to 5.26 percent and the 1-year ARM increased from 4.39 percent to 4.42 percent. Again, fees and points were lower at 0.5 for the 5/1 (compared to 0.7) and 0.6 for the one year, down 0.1 from the previous week.

The MBA survey had the 30-year fixed unchanged at 5.72 percent and associated points (including the origination fee) up to 1.31 from 1.14. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 5.32 percent from 5.28 percent, with fees and points decreasing almost imperceptivity to 1.25. The one-year ARM increased to 4.70, up 7 basis points from one week earlier. Points for this product decreased .01 to 0.98.

The MBA survey showed that mortgage applications decreased 5.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week of July 15 but were still running well ahead of the 2004 pace; 20.7 percent higher than the same week in 2004.

Given the increasing rates, it is no surprise that refinancing as a share of total loan applications dropped from 45.7 percent to 42.9 percent for the week. However, the adjustable rate mortgage share increased to 29.4 percent from 28.5 the previous week.