Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
A sign for sale outside a house is shown on sale on August 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty images
The mortgage rates did not move last week, but the demand for new homemade loans continued to weaken. Both housing buyers and current owners are hindered by today’s highest interest rates.
The total volume of the mortgage application decreased by 2% compared to the previous week, according to the seasonally adjusted index of the Association of Mortgage Bankers.
The average interest rate of the contract for 30 -year fixed rate mortgages with loan balances ($ 766,550 or less) remained unchanged by 7.02%, with points that increased to 0.63 from 0.62 (including the origin rate) for loans with an initial payment of 20%.
Applications to refinance a mortgage loan fell 7% during the week and were 5% higher than the same week a year ago. Interest rates are now 24 higher basic points than a year ago, so there are beautiful few that can benefit. The vast majority of owners have mortgages with rates well below what is offered today.
Applications for a mortgage to buy a house fell 0.4% of a week before and were 7% lower than the same week a year ago.
“The purchase activity decreased slightly, but the requests for the loans of purchase of the FHA were a brilliant point, which increased by 2 percent,” said Joel Kan, vice president of MBA and an attached chief economist.
“New and existing sales in the home ended 2024 with a solid note, and if the mortgage rates continue to stabilize and for the inventory of loose sales, we expect a gradual collection in the purchase activity in the coming months.”
Mortgage rates have not moved much to start this week, and Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting is not expected to bring surprises or negotiable news.
“Even Powell would be difficult to shake things too much taking into account the slightly positive signal of inflation data and continuous political uncertainty as a counterweight,” wrote Matthew Graham, director of Operations of Mortgage News Daily. “That said, you can never really rule out a volatile reaction to a Powell presider, but probabilities are certainly lower this time.”
