According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey, average mortgage rates increased last week from the week before. Rates were up for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with both conforming and jumbo balances, loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, and 15-year fixed-rate loans. As a result, demand for mortgage applications fell from the previous week. Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting, says the housing market remains strong. “The housing market in most of the country remains strong, with activity last week 7 percent higher than a year ago,” Kan said. “The average loan size of purchase applications increased to a record $418,000, in line with the accelerating home-price growth caused by very low inventory levels.” The week-over-week decline in application demand was also due, in part, to severe weather in Texas. The state saw a more than 40 percent drop in application demand last week. The MBA’s weekly survey has been conducted since 1990 and covers 75 percent of all retail residential mortgage applications.
