Mortgage Applications Drop for Fifth Consecutive Week in the Week Ending April 8, 2022

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey (WMAS), for the week ending April 8, 2022, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) declined -1.3 % on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased -1.0% compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index decreased -5.0% from the previous week and was -62.0% lower than the same week one year ago.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1.0% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 2.0% compared with the previous week but was -6.0% lower than the same week one year ago.

In remarks prepared for this week’s WMAS Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting said:

“Mortgage rates across all loan types continued to move higher, with the 30-year fixed rate exceeding the 5-percent mark at 5.13 percent—the highest since November 2018. Refinance activity as a result declined to the slowest weekly pace since 2019. Higher rates are increasing borrower interest in ARMs. Their share of applications last week was at 7.4 percent, which was the highest share since June 2019. In a promising sign of strong purchase demand amidst affordability challenges, both conventional and government purchase applications increased.”