California Home Loan, California Home Loans, Home Buyers, Refinancing, Equity Loan, Debt Consolidation, Refinance, New Purchase

Mortgages rates were up again during the last week of July, marking the fourth straight week of increases for fixed rate loans and the fifth week for the 1-year adjustable rate mortgages.

Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 5.77 percent for the week ended July 28, up 4 basis points from the July 21 average. The 15-year fixed rose to 5.34 percent from 5.32 percent the previous week and points and fees for both fixed rate products bounced back from their year low of 0.4 to 0.5.

The 5/1 ARM rose for the second week in a row to 5.27 percent from 5.26 percent and the 1-year ARM rose 4 basis points to 4.46 percent. Fees and points for the two ARMs were also up 0.1 to 0.6 and 0.7 respectively.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey for the week ended July 29 also reported across the board increases. The 30 year fixed increased to 5.83 percent from 5.72 percent but points (including the origination fee) decreased from 1.31 to 1.16 for 80 percent LTV loans. The 15-year product increased to 5.41 percent from 5.32 and points also dropped to 1.13 from 1.25. The average contract rate for 1-year ARMs was at 4.78 percent from 4.70 the previous week. Points also went up slightly from 0.98 to 1.00.

Mortgage application volume was down slightly - 0.3 percent on both an adjusted and unadjusted basis from the previous week - but was still running 20.7 percent above the same week in 2004.

Refinancing activity continued its recent fall. Refi applications represented 41.7 percent of all applications, decreasing 1.2 percent from the previous week. The ARM share of mortgage applications also dropped from 29.4 percent to 28.5.