Mortgage loan application volumes in the U.S. dropped 6.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, with a 7 percent seasonally adjusted drop in purchase mortgage activity, which was down 19 percent on a year-over-year basis, dropping total application volume back to a 22-year low despite an increase in inventory.
At the same time, the average purchase loan size, which hit a record $460,000 in March, has been dropping, “pulled lower by the potential moderation of home-price growth and weaker purchase activity at the upper end of the market,” as we noted last week and will result in a drop in the median home sale price.
UPDATE: Mortgage application volume ticked down another 1.8 percent over the past week, with purchase mortgage activity down 18 percent on a year-over-year basis, “consistent with data showing a slowdown in sales for newly constructed homes and existing homes” and which shouldn’t have caught any plugged-in readers by surprise.