Mortgage applications

The number of mortgage applications filed last week ticked up a seasonally adjusted 1.3% while mortgage interest rates barely moved, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. The volume of applications for all loans in the week ended Aug. 31 was up 10% on an unadjusted basis compared with the same week in 2006, the MBA’s latest survey showed. The survey encompasses about half of all U.S.

Applications filed to refinance existing mortgages rose a seasonally adjusted 2.3% on a week-to-week basis, while applications for loans to buy homes were up 0.4%. The four-week moving average for all loans was down a seasonally adjusted 1.3%. Refinancings accounted for 41.4% of all mortgage applications last week, up from 40.4% the previous week.

Underscoring the mortgage industry’s recent tightening of lending standards, the proportion of overall applications filed for adjustable-rate mortgages shrank to 12.6%, down from 15.0% the previous week. Meanwhile, the MBA reported that average interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was 6.42% last week, up from 6.41% the previous week. And 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, a popular vehicle for refinancings, averaged 6.10%, unchanged from the previous week.

The average rate on one-year ARMs also increased slightly, reaching 6.52% from 6.51%.