At this point, it seems like mortgage interest rates are reaching new record highs each week as applications keep disappearing as a result.
Mortgage applications decreased 4% from one week earlier, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Dec. 9.
This follows a.7% decline in applications last week and a 9.4% decline the week before that.
Broken up, the Refinance Index fell 4% from the previous week, as the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 3% from one week earlier.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 57.2% of total applications, slightly up from 56.2% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.2% of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications increased to 11.6% from 11.3% the week prior.
However, the VA share of total applications decreased to 11.9% from 12.6% the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained frozen at 0.9% from the week prior.
Moving on to interest rates, both the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances and with jumbo loan balances reached new highs.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to its highest level since October 2014, 4.28%, from 4.27%.
In addition, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) increased to its highest level since September 2014, 4.29%, from 4.22%.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 4.02% from 4%.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.52 percent from 3.53%, while the average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 3.28% from 3.39%.
