Mortgage Rates Up, Applications Down

The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages inched up to 7.85% this week from 7.82% last week, Freddie Mac said. Fifteen-year mortgages averaged 7.45% this week, up from 7.43%. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.31%, up from 6.27%. Separately, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. of America said that mortgage loan applications for the week ended Oct. 8 dropped 7% from the previous week and were down 70% from the same week last year.