While the seasonally adjusted volume of applications to secure a mortgage to purchase a home in the U.S. ticked up 4 percent over the past week, with the benchmark mortgage rate having ticked back under 7 percent, application volume dropped 10 percent in the absolute and was down 46 percent on a year-over-year basis, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. On a directly related note, the number of homes in contract to be sold across San Francisco is down 46 percent on a year-over-year basis as well, as we outlined last week.
At the same time, the share of applications for adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) has ticked down to 10.6 percent, representing the vast minority share of the market, as has historically been the case, both nationally and locally.
And while it’s true that many, if not most, homeowners have been able to lock-in significantly lower mortgage rates over the past decade than are on offer today, 27.6 percent of the overall mortgage application volume last week was to refinance an existing loan, down from 28.1 percent the week prior.