Recent Trends in Mortgage Applications

In the week ending March 29, mortgage applications in the United States experienced a slight decline of 1.6%, as reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. This change comes alongside a minor decrease in the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, which fell by 0.01 percentage points to 6.7%.

Purchase and Refinance Index Movements

The survey highlighted contrasting trends within the market: the purchase index saw a 2% increase to 158.2, indicating a growing interest in home buying. Conversely, the refinance index dropped by 6% to 710.4, suggesting a cooling off in refinancing activities.

Expert Insights on the Housing Market

"Overall purchase activity has shown year-over-year growth for more than two months as the inventory of existing homes for sale continues to increase, a positive development for the housing market despite the uncertain near-term outlook," commented MBA Deputy Chief Economist Joel Kan. This statement underscores the resilience of the housing market amidst fluctuating economic indicators.