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.
- In the world of lawsuits, loanDepot filed a suit against Movement Mortgage, accusing them of poaching employees. The suit specifically argues that Movement’s targeting and hiring strategies were meant to steal company secrets and confidential information while convincing loanDepot employees to breach their contracts with the lender and bring others along.
- Mortgage rates rose for the third week in a row, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.96%, and the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.3%. “Mortgage rates increased to their highest level since November 2022, the last time rates broke 7%,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.
- Not only did mortgage rates grow, but mortgage applications also increased, rising 0.9% this week, according to MBA’s latest Weekly Applications Survey. “Incoming economic data continue to send mixed signals about the economy, with the overall impact leaving Treasury yields higher last week as markets expect that the Federal Reserve will need to hold rates higher for longer to slow inflation,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist.
- Mortgage credit availability continues to hover near the 2013 low, according to MBA data as reported by Yahoo!Finance. The Mortgage Credit Availability Index was 96.6 in June, rising 0.1% from the prior month. “Lenders are streamlining their operations by offering fewer loan programs, with some exiting certain channels,” said Kan.
