Mortgages
Rate: 5.8 percent (30-year fixed) Average Points: 0.45Mortgage rates rose slightly this week.
The average 30-year, fixed-rate ticked up 4 basis points, to 5.8 percent. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
This week's average 15-year fixed rate -- a popular option for refinancing -- slipped 3 basis points, to 5.16 percent.
The average jumbo 30-year fixed increased 6 basis points, to 7.03 percent.
Adjustable-rate mortgages were split. The one-year, adjustable-rate mortgage rose 2 basis points, to 5.12 percent. The popular 5/1 ARM sank 11 basis points, to 5.26 percent.
Mortgage application activity rose a seasonally adjusted 6.6 percent when compared to a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
For the week ending June 19, applications for new purchases jumped 7.3 percent. Refinancing activity increased 5.9 percent.
In other housing news:
- Sales of existing homes rose 2.4 percent in May when compared to a month earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors. Rising sales in both April and May made this the first back-to-back monthly sales gain since September 2005.
- Sales of newly constructed homes fell 0.6 percent in May when compared to a month earlier, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Sales fell 32.8 percent year-over-year.
- The MBA lowered its forecast for 2009 mortgage originations to $2.03 trillion. That's a drop of more than $700 billion from the MBA's March forecast.
- Rising mortgage rates and the tepid response to the Obama administration's Home Affordable Refinance program are responsible for much of the lower forecast, according to the MBA
- In particular, the MBA singled out the government program's failure to help more at-risk homeowners refinance. The agency cited press reports indicating the plan -- which originally was projected to help millions of homeowners -- has only resulted in around 13,000 refinances during its first three months.
- As a result, the MBA concludes that "it is difficult to craft a scenario under which origination volumes would come anywhere close to reaching the numbers originally envisioned for the program."
To find and compare mortgage rates in your area, visit Bankrate's interactive search tool.
-- Chris Kissell