Mortgage applications for home purchases ticked up last week as mortgage rates dropped to their lowest level since June, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.
Purchase applications -- viewed as a leading gauge for future home sales -- rose 0.7 percent last week.
Overall, mortgage applications -- which includes applications for home purchases and refinancings -- dropped slightly by 0.6 percent during the week ending Oct. 18, offset by a slowing demand in refinancings. Refinancing applications fell by 1.3 percent.
The latest figures include part of the 16-day federal government shutdown, which had ended during the latter part of last week. The MBA said last week that the government shutdown had been hampering the mortgage market.
Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages fell 7 basis points to 4.39 percent last week, dropping to the lowest level since June, the MBA reports.
For more information: http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2013/10/23/loan-demand-for-home-purchases-rise
A rise in interest rates is slamming homeowners' demand for mortgages, prompting large and midsize banks to cut jobs and warn investors of declining profitability in the home-loan business.
ReplyDeleteWells Fargo WFC -0.05% & Co., the nation's largest mortgage company by loan value, on Monday told investors at a conference that it expects mortgage originations to drop nearly 30% in the third quarter to roughly $80 billion, down from $112 billion in the second quarter.
All told, Mr. Miller expects lenders to originate $1.654 trillion of mortgages this year, down from $1.75 trillion in 2012. The decline is expected to bottom at $1.46 trillion in 2014 before rising again in 2015, according to FBR estimates.
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