Mortgage loan applications fell for the first time in six weeks in the week ending Sept. 3 as rising interest rates prompted refinancing activity to moderate, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly mortgage applications.
Market activity was down 1.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the prior week. The purchase index rose 6.3%, but purchase activity was down 38.8% from the same week in 2009. The refinancing index fell 3.1%. The four-week moving average for the seasonally adjusted market index gained 4.4% from a week ago. The four-week moving averages for the purchase index rose 1.3% and the refinance index jumped 5.0%.
Refinancings accounted for 81.9% of applications in the week, down from 82.9% the previous week.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.50% from 4.43%, while 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.00% from 3.88%, and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages climbed to 7.00% from 6.95%.
“Home buying increased to its highest level since mid-May. Nevertheless, home buying is still relatively moribund, remaining well below both its tax-credit-fueled April level and its year-ago level,” Steven Wood, chief economist at Insight Economics, said in a research note.
