Mortgage Rates Rise, Application Volumes Retreat

Mortgage Rates Rise, Application Volumes Retreat

It was unrealistic to expect last week’s strong increase in mortgage activity to be sustainable in the current volatile rate environment, and indeed it was not. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted Market Composite Index, a measure of loan application volume, which had risen 7.4 during the week ended February 3, ended last week with a decline of 7.7 percent. On an unadjusted basis it was down 7.0 percent. Refinancing had driven last week’s surge, and it led the retreat, falling 13 percent . The index was 76 percent lower than the same week in 2022. The refinance share of applications dipped to 32.0 percent of the total from 33.9 percent the previous week. [refiappschart] The volume of purchase mortgages decreased 6.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted bas