Will Mortgage Applications Make Housing Bulls Think Twice?

Applications for home mortgages in the United States declined for the second consecutive week, as the housing market receives a reminder on how dependent it is on low interest rates.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest report for the week ending March 15, loan application volume dropped 7.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. This comes after a 4.7 percent drop. On an unadjusted basis, the index fell 7.0 percent. These figures include both refinancing and home purchase demand, and covers over 75 percent of all domestic retail residential mortgage applications.

The industry group’s Refinance Index decreased 8.0 percent from the previous week, while the Purchase Index slipped 4.0 percent. On an unadjusted basis, the Purchase Index fell 3.0 percent, but was still 6.0 percent higher from a year earlier.