The number of applications to secure a purchase mortgage loan for an existing home in the U.S. dropped another 3 percent over the past week on both an absolute and seasonally adjusted basis and was down 26 percent on a year-over-year basis to its lowest level in two months, according to application data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Once again, while existing home sales activity is down, mortgage loan application volume for new homes was up 26 percent on year-over-year basis last month, driven by discounting and a drop in the average sale price, resulting in lower average loan amounts, and pending sales are down closer to 30 percent on a year-over-year basis in San Francisco.
UPDATE: Having dropped another 3 percent over the past week, on both an adjusted and unadjusted basis, purchase activity was down 27 percent on a year-over-year basis lost week.