US Mortgage Applications See a Slight Decline

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

A Mixed Bag for the Housing Market

The survey revealed a 2% increase in the purchase index to 158.2, signaling a continued interest in home buying. Conversely, the refinance index saw a significant drop of 6% to 710.4. "Overall purchase activity has shown year-over-year growth for more than two months," noted MBA Deputy Chief Economist Joel Kan. He attributed this trend to the increasing inventory of existing homes for sale, which he described as a positive development for the housing market, despite the uncertain near-term outlook.