Mortgage applications continued their rapid decline for the fifth straight week, with pressure from rising mortgage rates continuing to plague homebuyers and keep them out of the market.
Applications decreased 10.8% from one week earlier, according to the MBA’s Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending Nov. 1, 2024.
Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, commented that purchase activity fell to “its lowest level since mid-August,” and that refinance activity declined “to the lowest level since May.”
“The average loan size on a refinance application dropped below $300,000, as borrowers with larger loans tend to be more sensitive to any given changes in mortgage rates,” he continued.
Kan noted that this decline is due to mortgage rates last week reaching the highest level since July, and that the “10-year Treasury rates remain volatile and continue to put upward pressure on mortgage rates.”
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 10.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 12% compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 19% from the previous week and was 48% higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 5% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 7% compared with the previous week and was 2% higher than the same week one year ago.
In addition, MBA found that the refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 39.9% of total applications from 43.1% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 7% of total applications. The FHA share of total applications decreased to 15.5% from 16.4% the week prior. The VA share of total applications decreased to 12.5% from 14.6% the week prior. The USDA share of total applications increased to 0.5% from 0.4% the week prior.
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