Florida Mortgage Applications Fall 2.2 Percent

As the borrowing costs of home loans inched upward ever so slightly over the past week, Florida mortgage applications fell slightly, posting a 2.2 percent decline.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said that its seasonally adjusted index of requests for home loans for the week ended October 13 eased slightly from the previous week’s level of activity. Much of this decline is attributed to the drop in mortgage refinancing, which bolstered application rates in previous weeks.

The official figures are as follows:

• The MBA’s seasonally-adjusted mortgage index increased by 0.4 percent to 384.7 from 383.3 one week earlier.
• The group’s seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications, meanwhile, decreased by 5.3 percent to 1758.2 from 1857 the previous week.

Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate Florida mortgages, excluding fees and origination points, increased to 6.33 percent from 6.27 from the previous week.

Fixed 15-year mortgage rates, the popular choice for refinancing a Florida home mortgage, averaged 6.01 percent, also up slightly from the previous week (5.90 percent). Rates on one-year ARMs (adjustable-rate mortgages) jumped up to 5.94 percent from 5.88 percent.

The ARM share of activity decreased to 26.5 percent of total loan applications. A week ago, adjustable-rate loans represented 26.9 percent of activity in the Florida home loan market.

The survey, considered a timely gauge of market activity, covers about 50 percent of all retail residential mortgage loans. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts.