Mortgage rates fell for the third week in a row last week, but the rush to refinance took a breather.
Applications to refinance a home loan dropped 15% from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Volume was, however, 90% higher than the same week one year ago. That is likely due to the 23% surge in demand over the past four weeks, as mortgage rates fell.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) decreased to 6.50% from 6.54%, with points increasing to 0.60 from 0.57 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment.
The 30-year fixed rate has fallen 32 basis points in the past four weeks and is 81 basis points lower than it was a year ago. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
“Both mortgage rates and mortgage applications have now …