Mortgage loan application volumes to purchase a home in the U.S. dropped 4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis over the last two weeks of 2021 and ended the year down 12 percent on a year-over-year basis, and with lower average loan sizes, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
On a related note, pending sales activity dropped to an 18-month low in San Francisco at the end of the year.
UPDATE: Having slumped at the end of last year, mortgage application volumes ticked up 2.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis over the past week, including an 8 percent increase in application volumes to purchase a home. That being said, purchase mortgage volumes are now down 13 percent on a year-over-year basis versus 12 percent at the end of 2021.