Thursday 14 May 2015

Russ Whitney Says Interest Rate Rise as Mortgage fall 3.5%


Many home loan borrowers moved to the sidelines amid as there comes a sharp rise in interest rates last week.Total mortgage application volume fell 3.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending May 8th from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The volume seems to be 14 percent higher than a year earlier, but that annual comparison has been shrinking for several weeks.

The weakness in mortgage applications to purchase a home may have less to do with higher interest rates and more to do with very few listings for sale. All the Real estate Agents across the nation are reporting tough competition for the limited supply, leading to more bidding wars.

This may push home prices as per the MBA survey the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to 4.00 percent, its highest level since March 2015, from 3.93 percent, with points increasing to 0.36 from 0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.

Some of the applications to refinance, which are the most rate-sensitive, fell 6 percent week-to-week and have dropped 16 percent in the past four weeks; they are still 15 percent higher than a year earlier as interest rates were slightly higher in May 2014. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 51 percent of total applications, its lowest level since May 2014.

Applications to purchase a home were basically flat down 0.2 percent from the previous week, a trouble to sign with that of the spring housing market. They were 12 percent higher than a year earlier. Most don't blame higher rates for the unexpectedly spring market.

Interest rates moved even higher in the market.The mortgage rates loosely follow the yield on the 10-year Treasury, which rose to its highest level in six months. Rising rates can have the effect of pushing some potential buyers off the fence, worried that they will miss out on what are still historically low rates. Higher rates reduce purchasing power, plain and simple.

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