Mortgage interest rates dropped again last week, and while that did little to bolster demand from home buyers, it did send homeowners looking for savings.
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported last week that applications to refinance a home loan increased by six percent. The volume was still much lower than it was a year ago.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances decreased to 6.34% from 6.42% with points decreasing to 0.59 from 0.64 for loans with a 20% down payment
The number of mortgage applications to purchase a home decreased in the last week. While rates are lower than a month ago, they are still more than a year ago, and this is the slowest time of the year for housing.
According to the latest data on the housing market, homebuilders are pulling back the pace of new construction in response to low levels of traffic, and we expect this weakness in demand will persist in 2023, as the U.S. is likely to enter a recession, according to Mike Fratant As affordability improves with both lower rates and slower home-price growth, more buyers are likely to return to the market later in the year.
After the Bank of Japan shocked global markets by changing its monetary policy, rates began to move higher. The average rate on the 30-year fixed jumped 11 basis points, according to a survey.
Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily, wrote that this isn't the sort of thing that's likely to have an ongoing impact on US rates. The impact was larger than it would have been because of the time of year.
The rates are close to 25 basis points higher than a week ago.
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