Florida Home Mortgage Applications Rise

Florida mortgage applications rose for the first time in three weeks even as home loan rates surged to their highest levels since mid-2006.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of home loan applications, which includes both Florida mortgage refinancing and home purchase loans, increased 6.6 percent to 666.5 for the week ended June 8.

The four-week average of Florida mortgage applications, which levels out the more volatile weekly figures, was down 0.3 percent.

Borrowing costs on 30-year, fixed-rate Florida mortgage loans, not counting points, averaged 6.61 percent, up 0.26 percent from the previous week, its highest level since the week ended July 28, when it stood at 6.62 percent.

Florida mortgage rates are exactly where they were a year-ago.

The seasonally adjusted purchase index, widely considered a timely gauge of home sales, rose 7.2 percent to its highest level since early January at 464.7.

The index was above its year-ago level of 414.6, as mortgage rates have risen.

The seasonally adjusted index of Florida mortgage refinancing applications increased 5.6 percent to 1,854.8. The Florida refinance share of total applications was 38 percent, unchanged from the previous week.

Fixed 15-year Florida mortgage rates averaged 6.28 percent, up from 6.13 percent.

Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) offered by Florida mortgage broker and lender groups fell to 5.48 percent, the lowest in a year, from 5.74.

The ARM share of activity, meanwhile, continued to increase to 18.7 percent from 17.8 percent the previous week as home loan costs have crept upward.

Florida housing market and mortgage indexes, in general, are volatile and have recently painted a mixed picture, with some pointing to prolonged trouble and others to stabilization in the hard-hit business sectors.

SOURCE: Reuters