Mortgage Purchase Applications Rise, Refinancing Falls

Purchase applications for home mortgages rose a seasonally adjusted 1 percent in the August 31 week but declined by 2 percent on an unadjusted basis, taking the year-on-year gain down 1 percentage point from the prior week to 2 percent. Applications for refinancing fell by 1 percent from the prior week, with the refinancing share of mortgage activity nevertheless increasing by 0.2 percentage points to 38.7 percent. After falling to the lowest level since July 20 in the prior week, the average interest rate on 30-year fixed rate conforming mortgages ($453,100 or less) bounced back up by 2 basis points to 4.80 percent. Purchase applications have come back into positive year-on-year territory in recent weeks but the gains remain unsteady and offer still only slight encouragement to a housing market that has faltered this summer.