Florida Mortgage Applications Fall This Week
Florida mortgage applications declined last week from the highest level since January as purchases declined and fewer owners refinanced.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of applications to buy a house or refinance a home mortgage showed a 3.7 percent decline for in the week ending November 17. The group’s gauge of activity among people refinancing mortgages in Florida dropped 4.3 percent, while applications for regular home purchases fell 2.8 percent.
A conventional 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is now below what it was a year ago, and builder incentives are helping keep the sputtering Florida housing market out of a major slump. But rebound in the housing market may be several months away as Floridians remain content to wait even lower home prices out.
The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate Florida home loan fell to just 6.13 percent a week ago, the lowest since January. The mortgage rates seen throughout the Sunshine State have fallen off significantly from 2006’s high of 6.86 percent in June.
At the current 30-year rate, the borrowing costs for each $100,000 of a mortgage loan would be about $608 a month. So, if you’re looking at a $300,000 Florida mortgage, which is more realistic in today’s market than you might think, that’s approximately $1,824 a month. A year ago, the rate was 6.26 percent, and the payment would have been closer to $1,900.
Lower rates are prompting some consumers to switch to a fixed-rate mortgage, but index of mortgage refinancing declined this week from the high levels of last week. Applications for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) held at 25.5 percent of total home loan demand last week, matching the lowest since October 2003.
One-year ARMs increased to 5.88 percent from 5.87 percent.
Nationally, home prices fell in about a third of U.S. metropolitan areas in the third quarter as the housing slowdown and job losses in various industries force sellers to accept lower offers for their properties, the National Association of Realtors said November 20.
Amid reports of sagging home builder optimism, Realtors predict new home sales will drop 17 percent this year, while those of previously owned homes will fall 8.6 percent. Fewer homes are being built as demand remains weak. Housing starts tumbled in October to the lowest level in more than six years, and building permits had the ninth straight monthly decline, the U.S. Commerce Department said.
