Mortgage Applications Down Again

\r\nThe beginning of June gave the mortgage market hope as the MBA’s index showed that home loan applications were slowly on the rise. But when July rolled around, the movement slowed, then stopped, and has now begun to drop again. Mortgage activity decreased by 1.3% this week, a second consecutive drop for the industry. The lack of demand for home purchase loans along with continued high mortgage rates has put a damper on application activity.\r\n

Fixed rate mortgage rates have dropped a bit in the last few weeks, averaging 6.69%, almost a quarter of a point better than a four year record high just one month ago. The drop in rate was 0.04 points better than the previous week; but the decrease couldn’t help mortgage purchases as they dropped by 2.4% from the previous week. Refinances continued to inch up as applications for them rose by 0.6% from the previous week. The purchase index issued by MBA is considered one of the most timely gauges of US home sales.\r\n