Having dropped to its lowest level in 28 years earlier this month, the number of applications to secure a purchase mortgage loan for an existing home in the U.S. slipped 0.3 percent over the past week in the absolute but inched up 3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to application data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
As such, purchase mortgage activity was “only down 12 percent” on a year-over-year basis but said 12 percent drop in volume was on top of a 46 percent drop in volume from 2021 to 2022 and purchase mortgage activity remains down over 50 percent over the past two years, with pending home sales activity in San Francisco down over 50 percent over the past two years as well.