MBA: Interest rates remain steady as mortgage application volume rebounds

Mortgage application volume increased 21 percent for the week that ended Jan. 29, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, while interest rates remained relatively steady. Applications for refinancing rose 26.3 percent, driving such mortgage activity to account for 69.2 percent of the market. Purchase applications rose 10.5 percent, to a level 11.2 percent below their volume one year ago. Adjustable-rate mortgages  accounted for only 4.5 percent of total mortgage applications, down from 4.7 percent in the previous week. Meanwhile, interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hovered just above 5 percent, decreasing to 5.01 percent from 5.02 percent the previous week. For 15-year mortgages, the average interest rate was 4.33 percent, down from 4.34 percent one week ago. “We expect that rates will rise over the next few months as the Federal Reserve winds down its MBS purchase program, and this will likely lead to a decline in
refinance volume,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president of research and economics. TRD