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Cause and Effect? Mortgage Rates Rise, But So Do Applications

  • November 24th 2010

by Mark Wellborn

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Cause and Effect? Mortgage Rates Rise, But So Do Applications: Figure 1

One would think that when mortgage rates sunk below 4.2 percent, buyers who had been sitting on the fence would hop off. But rather it seems that it wasn’t until buyers missed out on those record low rates, that they started getting serious.

Although they leveled off some last week (4.4 percent), rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans have been steadily increasing for the past several weeks, and just two weeks ago they hit 4.5 percent. But as The Wall Street Journal reports, mortgage applications are also rising.

From the WSJ:

The increase could be due, in part, to the fact that last week’s numbers are being compared with a week that included Veterans Day. Still, the level of purchase applications is now at the highest level since May on a seasonally adjusted basis.

“The increase in purchase applications last week aligns with other incoming data suggesting that consumers are feeling somewhat more confident with their financial situation,” said Michael Fratantoni, the MBA’s vice president for research and economics.

See other articles related to: interest rates, mortgage rates

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/cause_and_effect_mortgage_rates_rise_but_so_do_applications/2708.

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