The Thanksgiving holiday may have taken a bite out of mortgage applications last week. Mortgage applications dropped 3.1 percent for the week on a seasonally adjusted report, which included the Thanksgiving holiday, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. The MBA’s mortgage index reflects demand for refinancing and home purchase applications.
Refinancing applications plunged 8 percent last week, the lowest level since January, the MBA reported. Refinance applications are now 18 percent below a year ago.
Mortgage applications for home purchases did eke out a nearly 2 percent increase from last week. Purchase applications are 6 percent higher than a year ago.
Overall, interest rates offered little incentive for homeowners or home shoppers. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.20 percent last week, which was basically the same average as the year prior, the MBA reports.
Source: “Weekly Mortgage Applications Fall 3.1%, as Interest Rates Offer No Incentive,” CNBC (Nov. 29, 2017)
