Lower Interest Rates Not Improving Real Estate Sales

Wednesday, March 01 2006 @ 10:42 pm UTC Contributed by: jron Lower interest rates didn’t improve the number of mortgage applications. They fell last week. Mortgage Bankers Association reports that its seasonally adjusted index of applications for the week ending February 24th fell by 1.2 percent from the previous week. The MBA’s seasonally adjusted mortgage index fell 1.9 percent from the previous week. The index is considered to be a good gauge of US home sales. Levels are also down from the same time period of 2005. Rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.18 percent, again, down from the previous week, by 0.04 percent. The 30-year fixed mortgage is considered the standard. For fixed 15-year mortgages, rates were 5.84 percent, down from 5.87 percent the previous week. Rates for one-year adjustable mortgages rose to 5.64 percent, from 5.60 the previous week. The drop in rates last week did impact demand for home refinancing. Refinancing applications rose by 0.1 percent. Analysts report an increase in borrowers converting adjustable rate mortgages to fixed-rate loans. By: Patricia Fuller

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