U.S. Mortgage Rates Rise Across the Board, Breaking a Five-Week Downward Streak

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The numbers: U.S. mortgage rates rose as the market braced for further rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve to combat persistent inflation in the economy.

Rates broke a five-week downward trend, pushing demand for mortgages down by 7.7% in the latest week.

Demand for both purchases and refinancing both fell. That pushed down the market composite index—a measure of mortgage application volume—the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on Wednesday.

The market index fell by 7.7% to 230.4 for the week ending Feb. 10, from a week earlier. A year ago, the index stood at 537.0.

Key details: The refinance index plunged 12.5%, and was down 76% compared to a year ago.

The purchase index—which measures mortgage applications for the purchase of a home—fell by 5.5% from last week.

Purchase applications have dropped to the lowest level since the start of this year, the MBA said. Application volume was also down over 40% as compared to a year ago.

The average contract rate for the 30-year mortgage for homes sold for $726,200 or less was 6.39% for the week ending Feb. 10.

That’s up from 6.18% the week before, the MBA said.

For homes sold for over $726,200, the average rate for the 30-year was 6.26%.

The 15-year rose to 5.85%.

The rate for adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 5.53%.

The big picture: Housing is one economic sector that is most sensitive to interest rates. Since U.S. inflation is only slowly falling, the market is expecting more rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, which is pushing mortgage rates up.

That’s likely to give potential buyers a reason to reconsider purchasing homes. When rates go up, buyers are able to afford less as they have to pay more in interest.

What are they saying? “Refinance borrowers … remain on the sidelines as current rates provide little financial incentive to act,” Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist at the MBA, said.

Additionally, “potential buyers remain quite sensitive to the current level of mortgage rates, which are more than two percentage points above last year’s levels,” he added, “and have significantly reduced buyers’ purchasing power.”

Market reaction: The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell above 3.75% in early morning trading Wednesday.

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