Mortgage applications slide down in weekly survey

Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting, explained that these drops were due to mortgage rates remaining higher than they were a year ago, even with rate hikes stalling over the last two weeks.

“Purchase activity is hamstrung by ongoing affordability challenges and low inventory, and homeowners still have reduced incentive to apply for a refinance,” said Kan.

The refinance share of activity accounted for 29.6% of total applications, sliding down from the 30.3% reported last week. Similarly, the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 9.5% of total applications.

The week’s FHA share of total applications stayed at 12%, just as the USDA share remained at 0.6%. The VA share, meanwhile, dropped to 11.1% from 11.2% the week prior.

Finally, the weekly average contract rates for different types of loans saw the following changes, with effective rates decreasing across the board: