Interest rates increased, and refinances dragged down new lending activity. But the spread on jumbo mortgages improved.
The conventional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 4.169 percent in the Mortech-Mortgage Daily Mortgage Market Index report for the week ended Wednesday from 4.115 percent last week. The conventional 15-year increased to 3.55 percent from 3.54 percent.
But the jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was up just 1 basis point to 5.070 percent. The smaller increase in the jumbo rate cut the jumbo-conventional spread to 90 basis points from last week’s 95 BPS.
Mortgage activity was lower, with the Mortgage Market Index declining to 325 from 331 last week.
The decline was fueled by refinances. The refinance share dropped to 62 percent this week from 63 percent last week. This week’s share reflected a 48 percent rate-term share and a 15 percent cashout share.
