Report Shows Mortgage Apps Rise 5.1% Last Week

Lower interest rates in the beginning of the week looks to have initially spurred activity and refinance applicants while volatility and rising rates towards the end of the week brought the activity back to lower levels:

"'Treasury yields were extremely volatile last week,' said Orawin Velz, MBA's associate vice president of economic forecasting, in a news release. "The yield on the 10-year Treasury note -- the benchmark for the 30-year fixed mortgage rate -- moved up about 40 basis points over the course of the week.

'Lower yields earlier in the week appeared to have spurred refinance activity, which then faded as the week went on and rates began to rise.'

Overall, applications volume slumped 17% for the week ended Oct. 10 from the same week in 2007, the MBA said." - (MarketWatch)

Inside the mortgage numbers:

"The four-week moving average for all mortgages was down 7.9%, the MBA's latest survey showed. It covers about one half of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications

Refinancings made up 46.4% of all mortgage applications filed last week, up from 43.4% the week before. Adjustable-rate mortgages also rose, accounting for 2.6% of all applications, up from 2.3%.

The rate charged on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.47% last week, up from 5.99% the week before, while 15-year fixed-rate mortgages had an average rate of 6.17% last week, up from 5.71%.

The rate on one-year ARMs averaged 6.67% last week, up from 6.60% the previous week." - (MarketWatch)