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A slight decrease in mortgage<\/a> rates last week gave home buyers a slight jolt to get moving. Total mortgage application volume, which includes refinancings and home purchases, increased 2.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. That said, applications continue to run 23 percent below year-ago levels, mostly due to a big drop in refinancing applications.<\/p>\n Last week, mortgage applications for refinancings rose 2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, but they are 40 percent lower than a year ago, the MBA reports. Many borrowers may have already taken advantage of low mortgage rates over the past year, so the refinancing pool continues to shrink.<\/p>\n Applications for home purchases, viewed as a gauge of homebuying activity, also rose 2 percent last week. Home purchase<\/a> applications are now 3.6 percent higher than a year ago.<\/p>\n “Mortgage rates continued to show volatility from week to week, decreasing 4 basis points to 4.35 percent last week after two weeks of increases,” says Joel Kan, an MBA economist. “Since reaching a recent peak of almost 4.5 percent toward the end of December, rates have bounced around the 4.3 percent mark for the past six weeks.”<\/p>\n Source: \u201cMortgage Applications Rise 2.3% as Rates Hit Three-Week Low<\/a>,\u201d CNBC (Feb. 8, 2017)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [ad_2]
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