Increase rates and inflation are continuing to pump the breaks on mortgage demand which fell 6.5%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey…(MBA)
- REFIS: The Refinance Index was down 6.0% for the week and is off 75% when compared to the same time last year.
- PURCHASES: The Purchase Index was down 7.0% for the week and is now down 21% year-over-year.
NOTE: The refinance share of mortgage activity actually increased to 32.2% of total applications from 31.5% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity decreased to 8.2% of total applications.
After three weeks of declines, mortgage rates jumped up with 30-year fixed jumping 7 basis points to 5.40% which is 225 basis points higher than the same time one year ago.
- The 15-year was up 3 basis points to 4.62% and the 5/1 ARM was up 5 basis points to 4.51%.
Joel Kan, MBA economist, said that demand fell to the lowest level in over two decades…
- “Weakness in both purchase and refinance applications pushed the market index down to its lowest level in 22 years. The 30-year fixed rate increased to 5.4 percent after three consecutive declines. While rates were still lower than they were four weeks ago, they remain high enough to still suppress refinance activity. Only government refinances saw a slight increase last week…The purchase market has suffered from persistently low housing inventory and the jump in mortgage rates over the past months. These worsening affordability challenges have been particularly hard on prospective first-time buyers.”