NAHB CEO Jerry Howard discusses the mass exodus from cities creating a high demand in the housing market and regulations slowing down home building.
Higher mortgage rates took a bite out of demand for applications in the past week.
Applications fell 11.4% from a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest survey.
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The Refinance Index decreased 11 percent from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.08% from 2.98%.
“Mortgage rates have increased in six of the last eight weeks, with the benchmark 30-year fixed rate last week climbing above 3 percent to its highest level since September 2020,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. “As a result of these higher rates, overall refinance activity fell 11 percent to its lowest level since December 2020, but remained 50 percent higher than a year ago.”
HOME PRICES CLIMB BY FASTEST PACE IN 7 YEARS
Texas saw a huge drop in activity as severe winter weather affected many households and lenders. Mortgage activity fell more than 40% in the state.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 12% from one week earlier.
“The housing market in most of the country remains strong, with activity last week 7 percent higher than a year ago,” added Kan.
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The survey covers over 75% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications and has been conducted weekly since 1990.
