Mortgage Volume Increased in Third Week of August

The latest seasonally adjusted report from the Mortgage Bankers Association finds that total mortgage application volume grew 4.2 percent last week.

Experts suggest that the weekly growth may be due to calmer waters in the mortgage market relative to the beginning of the month. CNBC reports that the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances was steady at 4.81 percent, and the share of refinance loans rose to 38.7 percent of all applications. Year-over-year, total mortgage application volume was down 15 percent.

Mortgage rates have not moved at all this week either, making this Tuesday the eighth straight business day with no change. "During that time, underlying bond markets have improved slightly," said Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. "Normally, those improvements would translate to modest improvements in rates, but lenders are waiting for a bigger breakout that, thus far, has failed to materialize."

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