Mortgage rates pause as homebuyers get moving

Report says mortgage applications rose

Mortgage rates didn’t move much this week, but that did nothing to cool the housing fever that has emerged since the temperatures have warmed up across the country. BUYERS ON THE PROWL

A trifecta of housing reports came in April 22, showing a much healthier market materializing after the winter doldrums. The volume of purchase applications this week increased by 5 percent from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. That marks the fourth rise in five weeks and the highest level since June 2013. Overall, mortgage applications rose by 2.3 percent, with refinances up by 1 percent.

Sales of existing homes jumped 6.1 percent in March to an annual pace of 5.19 million units, the strongest monthover-month increase since December 2010 and the highest annual rate since September 2013, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median price was up 5.1 percent to $212,100 from February.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s home value index also showed housing prices started improving in February with a 0.7 percent increase month-overmonth and a 5.4 percent rise year-overyear.

■ The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.79 percent, unchanged from last week, according to the Bank- rate.com national survey of large lenders. One year ago, that rate was 4.48 percent. Four weeks ago, it was 3.8 percent. The mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.2 discount and origination points. Over the past 52 weeks, the 30-year fixed has averaged 4.1 percent. This week’s rate is 0.31 percentage points lower than that 52-week average.

■ The benchmark 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was unchanged, at 3.03 percent.

■ The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 3.09 percent from 3.08 percent.

■ The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate jumbo rose to 3.92 percent from 3.9 percent. COULD THE GOOD DATA NUDGE THE FED TO RAISE RATES?

The housing news is among the first positive economic data to come out recently, after an unusually cold and long winter stifled growth in the first quarter. The question remains as to whether it is enough to persuade the Federal Reserve’s monetary policymaking group to increase the federal funds rate, a benchmark for interest rates on business and consumer loans, anytime soon. The rate now is near zero.

“The early, post-winter data seem to imply that we are getting back to where we were before the first quarter,” says Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania. “But the Fed is not going to react until it sees a string of good economic data. Until then, the lid is on mortgage rates right now.”

BANKRATE.COM