Mortgage Purchase And Refinancing Applications Fall

Purchase applications for home mortgages fell a seasonally adjusted 7 percent in the September 16 week, with the year-on-year growth pace slowing to 3 percent. The slowdown on the buyer side was accompanied by a similarly sizable drop in refinancing, where an 8 percent decline in applications during the week put the Refinance Index at the lowest level since June. A rise in mortgage rates may have given some applicants reason to pause, as the average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgages ($417,000 or less) edged up 3 points from the previous week to 3.70 percent, the highest level since June.