U.S. Mortgage Applications Fall Amid Rising Rates
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Mortgage applications fell last week to the lowest level since April, as higher mortgage rates pushed down demand for homes and slowed refinancing.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of applications declined 4.8% to 646.7, the fifth decrease in six weeks, from 679.1. The group’s measure of home-purchase applications dropped to the lowest level since February.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage jumped to 6.21%, the highest since June of last year. Purchase applications have fallen in six of the last seven weeks, suggesting housing will provide less of a boost to the economy in coming months, economists said.
“New purchase and refinancing activity are crumbling,” the chief economist at Insight Economics, Steven Wood, said.
