Real Estate Market Update - Information You Should Know

​Real Estate Market Update - Information You Should Know

- A drop in interest rates drives homeowners and homebuyers to the mortgage market.

- Total mortgage application volume increased 3 percent last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

- The increased mortgage activity was buoyed by applications to refinance home loans, which increased 5 percent form last week but were down 44 percent from a year ago.

- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($424,100 or less) dropped to 4.14 percent from 4.17 percent, with points increasing to 0.38 from 0.36 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio loans.

- Mortgage applications to purchase a home also increased, by 1 percent from the previous week.

- Refinance applications increased to 46.7 percent of total applications from 45.5 percent in the previous week.  The adjustable-rate mortgage share of total mortgage activity increased to 6.8 percent.  The FHA share of total applications decreased to 10.2 percent from 10.3 percent the previous week.  The VA share of total applications increased to 10.7 percent from 10.1 percent the previous week.

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