NeWS to KnOW

Mortgage rates rose this week, and homeowners rushed to refinance. The pattern is familiar: People wait on the sidelines while mortgage rates are falling. Then, when rates finally hit bottom and bounce back up, homeowners apply to refinance mortgages.

This wave of refinancing resembles a gentle swell, rather than a tsunami, because there aren't a lot of homeowners remaining who qualify for a refinance but haven't yet done so.

The benchmark 30 year fixed rate mortgage rose 3 basis points, to 5.04 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. The mortgages in this week's survey had an average total of 0.43 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 5.8 percent; four weeks ago, it was 5.19 percent.

The benchmark 15 year fixed rate mortgage rose 1 basis point, to 4.47 percent. The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage rose 3 basis points, to 4.55 percent, and the 30 year fixed rate jumbo fell 2 basis points, to 6 percent.

Two weeks ago, the 30-year fixed fell to 5 percent, a record low in the 24-year history of most weekly mortgage rate surveys. Mortgage rates are only a smidgen higher now, underlining the fact that rates are extremely generous by historical standards. That point was not lost on homeowners; there was an 11 percent increase in seasonally adjusted refinance applications last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Three-quarters of mortgage applications are from refinancers, and one-quarter are from homebuyers.