The highest 30-year mortgage rates in a year eroded demand for U.S. home loan applications last week, according to an industry trade group on Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted application index dropped 6.2% in the week ending July 18 to 489.6, with a 6.59% 30-year mortgage rate depressing applications for purchases and refinancing.
Average [...]

Tamalpais Bank (NASDAQ:TAMB) today announced a strategic relationship with Petaluma-based First California Mortgage Company to immediately begin offering residential home purchase and refinance loans of up to $10 million.
Tamalpais Bank CEO/chairman/president Mark Garwood said, “We are heeding the call of Fed chief Ben Bernanke. He has suggested that community banks play a more prominent role [...]

In a sign that the U.S. housing market may weaken further, an index of sales contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes declined 4.7% in May from the prior month, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. The index, which is considered a leading indicator of existing home sales, was down 14% from the May [...]