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Mortgage applications increased 5.7% for the week ending July 23, mostly on the back of fast-falling mortgage rates<\/a>. <\/p>\n The 10-year Treasury yield went into free fall last week, as investors grew concerned about the rise in COVID-19 variant cases and the potential economic fallout, according to Joel Kan, MBA\u2019s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting.<\/p>\n That led to the 30-year fixed mortgage rate declining to its lowest level since February of this year, according to the latest report<\/a> from the Mortgage Bankers Association. <\/strong>And the 15-year rate fell to a record low last seen in 1990<\/em>. Those ultra-low rates naturally resulted in a sharp uptick in refinancing activity.<\/p>\n “With over 95% of refinance applications for fixed rate mortgages, borrowers are looking to secure a lower rate for the life of their loan,\u201d Kan said Wednesday. <\/p>\n Kan noted that the low rates didn’t spur the purchase market, which hasn’t been able to overcome record home prices. The purchase index decreased for the second week in a row to its lowest level since May 2020. It’s now fallen on an annual basis for the past three months.<\/p>\n Kan noted that the Federal Housing Finance Agency<\/strong> reported that May home prices<\/a> were 18% higher than a year ago.<\/p>\n “That continues a seven-month trend of unprecedented home-price growth,” he said. “Potential buyers continue to be put off by extremely high home prices and increased competition<\/a>.”<\/p>\n The refinance share of activity of total mortgage applications increased to 67.2% from 64.9% the previous week. On an unadjusted basis, the market composite index increased 6% compared with the previous week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased as well, down 2% from the previous week. <\/p>\n The FHA<\/strong> share of total mortgage applications decreased to 9.1% from 9.6% the week prior, and the VA<\/strong> share of total mortgage applications decreased to 9.8% from 10.5%.<\/p>\n Here is a more detailed breakdown of this week\u2019s mortgage applications data:<\/p>\n The post Mortgage applications jump as rates plummet<\/a> appeared first on HousingWire<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n