The Mortgage Bankers Association noted the increase in borrowing activity came despite the 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbing to its highest level since November 2022. 

Mortgage insurance premiums on loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration will drop from 0.85% to 0.55% beginning March 20. 

The former Keller Williams lending unit will operate alongside Mutual of Omaha Mortgage’s existing mortgage divisions. 

The pace of mortgage applications fell 7.7% in the week ended Feb. 10, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported. 

The 30-year fixed rate fell for the fifth week in a row, giving a lift to lending activity, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. 

The 30-year fixed-rate inched to 6.42%, which is still close to the lowest rate in a month, the group said. 

The pace of new single-family home sales, meanwhile, fell 6.1% from September to 598,000. 

The largest single-week decline in conventional mortgage rates since July brought the first increase in home-loan applications since September, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. 

A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 7.08% this week from 6.94% a week ago, Freddie Mac reported. A year ago, the average mortgage carried a 3.14% rate. 

At the same time, mortgage applications declined 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis on a week-over-week basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. 

Mortgage applications declined 1.2% during the week ended Sept. 9, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. 

Worsening affordability challenges are affecting first-time homebuyers

Despite a slow start to the spring homebuying season, prospective buyers are showing some resiliency in the face of higher mortgage rates, as seen by two weeks in a row of increasing loan applications. 

Overall mortgage-application volume was at its lowest level since 2018, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Hoping to streamline end-to-end residential transactions, Guaranteed Rate has announced its acquisition of the Chicago-based title insurance underwriter Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund Inc.

“Investors are weighing the impacts of rapidly increasing inflation in the U.S. and many other parts of the world against the potential for a slowdown in economic growth due to a renewed bout of supply-chain constraints.” — MBA associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting Joel Kan