Applications for purchase loans dropped a seasonally adjusted 5 percent for the week ending Aug. 9 compared to a week earlier but were still up 4 percent on an annual basis, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications survey.
During the same period, refinance applications fell 4 percent.
“Earlier rises in rates denting [mortgage] apps for home purchase. Nevertheless, real constraint on credit is not cost, but availability,” tweeted Paul Diggle, an economist at Capital Economics.
Added Trulia Chief Economist Jed Kolko in a tweet: “Main effect of rates [is] still [a] huge drop in refis. Purchases affected by rates, prices, credit avail, inventory.”
Possibly reflecting a recent leap in interest rates, applications for purchase loans last week stood at their lowest level since February 22, 2013, wrote Tony Sanders, a professor of real estate at George Mason University.
