Refinance

With housing affordability still a prominent hurdle to homeownership, prospective buyers — especially millennials — now get creative in order to find suitable homes, according to Chase and the Property Brothers.

Economic issues were the biggest influence on average mortgage rates in the past week, although two trackers moved in different directions.

Millennials took advantage of mortgage rates falling to near three-year lows in August, increasing their refinance share to the highest percentage since December 2015, according to Ellie Mae.

Mortgage applications increased 8.1% from one week earlier as conventional mortgage rates fell under 4% again, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The switch to a buyer's home purchase market, as well as fewer natural disasters helped drive the five-month-long decline in mortgage application fraud risk, First American said.

The recent spike in mortgage interest rates reduced home purchase application activity last week, contributing to a 10.1% decline in total activity, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Denmark is about to become a test case for what happens when banks start charging a lot of customers to store their money.

Foreclosure starts dropped to their lowest level in 18 years, and properties foreclosed on but not yet sold fell to a 14-year low in August, according to Black Knight.

The number of mortgage holders with refinancing potential dropped by 1.5 million as the average long-term rate for home loans continued to rise, according to Black Knight.

Mortgage applications decreased 0.1% from one week earlier as conforming and jumbo interest rates climbed back above 4%, which slowed refinance activity, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.