Mortgage application volume fell 12.7% during the week ended April 8, as the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 6.90%, up from 6.81% the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey.
Applications for refinances tumbled 20% compared with the previous week but were up 43% compared with the same week one year ago.
Applications for purchases shrank 7% compared with the previous week but were up 6% compared with the same week one year ago.
“Overall mortgage application activity declined last week, as rates increased to their highest level in two months,” says Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist for the MBA, in a statement. “The 30-year fixed rate rose for the second straight week to 6.9 percent, an almost 30-basis-point increase over two weeks.”
“These higher rates drove a 20 percent drop in refinance applications, especially for higher balance loans, with the average loan size falling substantially,” Kan says. “The refinance share of applications at 37.3 percent was the lowest since January. Similar to the previous week, economic uncertainty and rate volatility impacted prospective homebuyers as we saw a 7 percent decline in purchase applications. Both conventional and government purchase activity fell relative to the week before, but the overall level of purchase applications was still 6 percent higher than a year ago.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity was down from 41.3% the previous week.
The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 7.5% of total applications.
Photo: Annika Wischnewsky