Demand for purchase mortgages picked up last week to the highest level since the end of June, even as a refinancing boom cooled, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in releasing the results of its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.
The survey showed applications for purchase mortgages during the week ending July 23 were up a seasonally adjusted 2 percent from the week before, but remained 34 percent lower than at the same time a year ago.
Requests for refinancings were down fell 5.9 percent from the previous week. Requests for refinancings accounted for 78 percent of all loan applications, down from 79.4 percent the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.69 percent from 4.59 percent, with points decreasing to 0.88 from 1.04 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate also increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.12 percent from 4.05 percent, with points decreasing to 0.83 from 0.88 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.The effective rate also increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 7.15 percent from 7.17 percent, with points decreasing to 0.23 from 0.24 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
