For the second week in a row, mortgage demand fell, according to the weekly survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)
- Total demand fell 4.0% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
- The Refinance Index fell 5.0% from the previous week but was still 6.0% higher than the same week one year ago.
- The Purchase Index fell 3.0% compared with the previous week however unlike the refi index, purchases were 2.0% lower than the same week one year ago.
Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting blamed the usual suspects for the continued decline. “Tight housing inventory, obstacles to a faster rate of new construction, and rapidly rising home prices continue to hold back purchase activity…”
The good news for those who did seek a mortgage was the decrease in mortgage rates…
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed fell one basis point to 3.17% with points increasing to 0.39 from 0.35.
