Mortgage demand fell for the third week in a row with a 6.3% drop and is now at the lowest level in 22 years, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association weekly survey…(MBA)
- PURCHASES: The Purchase Index fell 7% from one week earlier and is now 19% lower than the same week one year ago.
- REFIS: The Refinance Index fell 4% from the previous week and is now 80% lower than the same week one year ago.
NOTE: The refinance share of mortgage activity increased 0.6 percentage points to 31.4% and ARM’s share of activity decreased to 9.5% of total applications.
After a stall last week, rates continued their upward trajectory with the 30-year fixed average contract interest rate increasing 8 basis points to 5.82% for the week. This is 273 basis points higher than the same time one year ago.
- NOTE: Even though the 30-year was up the other loan types were down for the week. The 15-year fixed fell 5 basis points and the 5/1 ARM was down 11 basis points to 4.60%.
Joel Kan, MBA economist, noted that mortgage demand has fallen to a 22-year low. “Mortgage applications declined for the third week in a row, reaching the lowest level since 2000. Similarly, with most mortgage rates more than two percentage points higher than a year ago, demand for refinances continues to plummet, with MBA’s refinance index also falling to a 22-year low,”