Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s weekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it each Friday afternoon.
- Mortgage rates rose again this week, reaching their highest level since 2001, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.23%, while the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.55%. “Indications of ongoing economic strength will likely continue to keep upward pressure on rates in the short-term,” said Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater.
- While rates grew, mortgage applications dropped, decreasing 4.2% this week, according to the latest Weekly Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). “Applications for home purchase mortgages dropped to their lowest level since April 1995, as homebuyers withdrew from the market due to the elevated rate environment and the erosion of purchasing power,” said Joel Kan, MBA vice president and deputy chief economist.
- After the ransomware attack in the MLS sphere, the mortgage industry is ramping up security, according to a new article from National Mortgage News. The article states that Fannie Mae is partnering with Amazon Web Services to strengthen its defenses against cyber attacks, and the New York State Department of Financial Services is issuing fines to lenders who fail to provide adequate cybersecurity for their customers’ private information.
- Online mortgage lender Better.com went public this week; however, rising mortgage rates caused stock to drop 93%, according to Barrons.com. The company stated that they made this move in preparation of a “future uptick in demand.”
