Rates rose and refinance share waned, but home purchases and government business helped fuel an increase in loan applications.
The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 9 basis points from a week earlier to 4.87% in Freddie Mac’s survey of 125 thrifts, commercial banks and mortgage lenders for the week ending April 9. The 30-year was 101 BPS higher during the same week in 2008.
Freddie said the average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.54%, 2 BPS higher than last week.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury traded at 2.889% today, climbing from 2.735% last week and suggesting mortgage rates may edge higher.
At 4.93%, the five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged just 0.01% more than the previous week, according to Freddie’s survey.
The one-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 4.83%, 8 BPS above seven days earlier, Freddie reported.
The one-year ARM adjusts with the yield on the one-year Treasury, which stood at 0.59% yesterday, 0.01% higher than the previous week, data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury indicated.
Subprime ARMs often utilize the six-month London Interbank Offered Rate as the underlying index, which was 1.70% yesterday based on data reported by Bankrate.com. The prior week, LIBOR stood at 1.74%.
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that ARMs accounted for 2% of all applications tracked in its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 3 — the same share as a week earlier.
MBA’s Market Composite Index rose 5% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week to 1250.6.
The trade group’s Refinance Index was up 3% compare the to prior survey, and refinance share was 78%, easing from 79%.
Purchase applications were 11% stronger, and FHA business was 17% better.
