Most Mortgage Rates were Stagnant While Application Volume Increased

While the stock market has been undergoing some wild fluctuations over the last couple of weeks, the mortgage scene has been quiet � very quiet.

According to Freddie Mac which released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ended June 5, the two long-term products, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) and the 15-year FRM each moved a scant one basis point from the previous week. The 30-year increased to 6.09 percent and the 15-year decreased to 5.65 percent. Fees and points for both types of mortgages were unchanged at 0.6.

The short-term products were a little more active. One-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.51 percent with an average 0.5 point, down from the previous week when the average was 5.62 percent also with 0.5 point.

The largest move was made by one-year Treasury-indexed ARMS which dropped from 5.22 percent to 5.06 percent while fees and points increased from 0.6 to 0.7.

"Interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages were nearly unchanged this week over reports of continued inflation," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "Although the gross domestic product grew at a faster rate in the first quarter than originally reported, consumer spending rose only 1 percent, representing the smallest increase since the 2001 recession.

"In addition, the core price deflator was revised downward to an annualized rate of 2.1 percent and remained at that pace in April, but this is still above the Federal Reserve's stated comfort zone."

Mortgage rates reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association from its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ended June 6 were also more active.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year FRMs increased to 6.24 percent from 6.17 percent, with points, including the origination fee) increasing to 1.12 from 1.06.

15-year FRMs increased to 5.78 percent from 5.7 percent with points increasing from 1.06 to 1.12.

One-year ARMs increased to 6.87 percent from 6.8 percent with points decreasing to 1.42 from 1.44.

Application volume increased 10.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from a week earlier and 23 percent on an unadjusted basis but still lagged behind the same week in 2007 by 16.5 percent.

Refinancing as a share of all mortgage activity fell again to 39.8 percent and the percentage of total applications requesting adjustable rate mortgages was up a bit to 10.3 percent from 8.7 percent a week earlier.