Florida Mortgage Applications Decline For Second Straight Week

Florida mortgage applications fell for a second straight week as interest rates remained near recent highs, an industry group said Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that in its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications, which includes both Florida refinance and purchasing loans, for the week ended June 22 fell 3.9 percent.

That’s the lowest it’s been in four months.

The four-week moving average of Florida home mortgage applications, which helps smooth out the volatile weekly figures, was down 0.7 percent.

Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 6.60 percent, unchanged from the week before, but hovering around their highest since mid-2006.

A year earlier, Florida mortgage borrowing costs stood at 6.86 percent.

• The group’s seasonally adjusted index of mortgage refinancing applications fell 2.5 percent to 1,731.6, its lowest this year.
• Also, the Florida refinance share of applications increased to 38.7 percent from 38.0 percent the previous week.

Fixed 15-year mortgage rates - often a popular Florida mortgage refinance option - averaged 6.24 percent, down from 6.28 percent.

Meanwhile, rates on 30-year fixed-rate Florida mortgages - the industry’s benchmark financing product - had been on an upward trend.

Average rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) fell to 5.51 percent from 5.70 percent. The ARM share of activity increased to 20.4 percent from 20.3 percent the previous week.

Recent data from home sales, released by other institutions, suggest a delayed recovery for the hard-hit Florida housing market.

SOURCE: Reuters