Mortgagre Rates (Dec. 8 - Dec. 14) the experts say:

It looks like mortgage rates have peaked for now.

Half of our mortgage experts expect rates to remain relatively unchanged (plus or minus 2 basis points) over the next 35 to 45 days. The rest are evenly split among those who expect them to rise and those who think they'll fall.



EXPERTS' COMMENTS:
"The techs are still calling for a mild, bullish correction, but on Monday there appeared to be more weather-generated angst. Instead of hurricanes knocking Gulf oil production offline, we had cold weather in the Northeast raising concern about the need for distributors to vie for more supply of heating oil. More heating oil equals more crude. More crude equals inflation fears. Healthy productivity numbers on Tuesday undid Monday's damage. We also have a 99 percent certainty of another Fed hike on Dec. 13 and a market factoring another hike after that. Concern will continue even when the Fed stops hiking. The fear then will take the form of 'Now that the Fed has stopped hiking, will inflation break out?'"

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Mortgage Applications Rise

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage applications increased for the first time in a month, mostly driven by a robust rebound in home refinancing volume even as interest rates rose, an industry trade group's figures showed Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity for the week ended Dec. 2 increased 5.2 percent to 656.7, up from the previous week's 624.1.

Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 6.32 percent, up 0.12 of a percentage point from the previous week's 6.20 percent. It was the first increase in three weeks.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted purchase mortgage index increased 4 percent to 495.1 from the previous week's 476.2. The index is considered a timely gauge on U.S. home sales.

The group's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications climbed 7 percent to 1,596.4 compared with 1,484.3 the previous week. This was the first increase in the index in seven weeks.