Mortgage loan application volumes to either purchase or refinance a home in the U.S. dropped 6.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis over the past week and were down 6 percent in the absolute, including a 7 percent drop in refinancing activity and a 5 percent drop in applications to purchase a home, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
In addition to the weekly drop, purchase mortgage activity is down 12 percent on a year-over-year basis, with application volumes for new home purchases having dropped 16 percent on a year-over-year basis last month despite a marked increase in inventory levels and the most new homes on the market in over a decade.
And while the benchmark mortgage rate inched up to a six-month high of 3.05 percent last week, the current 30-year rate is still around half its long-term average and 20 percent cheaper than the average rate over the past decade, with inflation on the rise and expectations for a rate hike gaining steam.
UPDATE: Purchase mortgage activity ticked up 3 percent last week but is still down 9 percent, year-over-year.