Alongside this shift, homebuyer competition slowed moderately this week. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, purchase applications decreased 12% from last week and was down 15% compared to one year ago.
“Mortgage applications decreased for the first time in three weeks, as mortgage rates – despite declining last week – remained over two percentage points higher than a year ago and close to the highest levels since 2009” said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting.
Refinances also declined for this week. They’re down 10% from last week and 76% from one year ago.
“For borrowers looking to refinance, the current level of rates continues to be a significant disincentive,” Kan said.
More News in Mortgage & Housing
- Median list prices for homes continue to increase.
- Realtor.com data, tells us the current median list price is 15.9% more than last year and has increased by double digits year over year for 21 weeks. Also, that this week’s 0.5% mortgage rate decrease is the highest decrease since March.
- A Redfin analysis tells us that homebuyer competition is slowing. 60.7% of buyers faced competition in April, the lowest figure since March 2021. That’s down from 63.4% a month prior and down from 67.4% last year.
- The recently released May 2022 commentary from the Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTCQB) Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group suggests a broader economic slowdown.