Mortgage rates move up, settle down

Mortgage rates seem to be settling down after remarks from Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke triggered explosive rate increases. The average rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage moved up from last week.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) publishes the results of a weekly applications survey that covers roughly 50 percent of all residential mortgage originations and tracks the average interest rate for 30 year and 15 year fixed rate mortgages as well as the volume of both purchase and refinance applications. 

The purchase application index has been highlighted as a particularly important data series as it very broadly captures the demand side of residential real estate for both new and existing home purchases. 

The latest data is showing that the average rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage (from FHA and conforming GSE data) increased 3 basis point to 4.47% since last week while the purchase application volume increased 1% and the refinance application volume went flat over the same period. 

Rates now appear to be settling a bit after weeks of explosive increases that saw a rise of over 100 basis points seemingly directly correlated with the Feds recent suggestion that they may start to wind down GSE purchases later this year.  

It appears now though that Chairman Bernanke's latest comments might have worked to provide a bit more clarity surrounding the Feds plans for QE thereby working to halt the recent run-up in rates.