Mortgage Applications To Buy a Home Fall 18% From Last Year as Housing Slump Deepens

Mortgage applications to buy a home fell 18% year over year this week, as the housing market continues to be rocked by inflation, high interest rates, and elevated oil prices due to the ongoing war with Iran.For the week ending Oct. 9, the Mortgage Bankers Association's Market Composite Index—a measure of total mortgage loan application volume—fell 5.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.The Purchase Index, which measures the volume of mortgage applications to purchase a single-family home, decreased 7% from one week earlier after seasonal adjustment. Purchase applications were down 18% from a year ago.According to MBA calculations, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed mortgages with conforming loan balances is 7.41%, a slight decrease from last week's high of 7.5%. Mortgage rates held steady at 7.4% last week, according to Freddie Mac."However, lower rates were not enough to boost application activity, as both purchase and refinance applications continued to decline,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “It is very clear that the higher mortgage rate environment has cooled the housing market this fall.”And with elevated...