Mortgage applications fall 5.3% even as rates dip to 7.41%
Purchase applications ran 18% below last year, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.
Mortgage applications fell 5.3% in the week ended October 16 from a week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday, even as the average 30-year fixed rate slipped to 7.41% from 7.50%. It was the first rate decline in more than two months. Purchase applications fell 7% on the week and were 18% below the same week a year ago. Refinance applications fell 2% and were 59% lower than a year earlier.
"Lower rates were not enough to boost application activity," said Joel Kan, the MBA's deputy chief economist, who added that the higher rate environment "has cooled the housing market this fall." The jumbo 30-year rate fell to 7.33% from 7.49%.
The report fits a run of weak housing data: see our stories on pending home sales, housing starts and homebuilder sentiment.
