According to its weekly applications survey, the Mortgage Bankers Association says that the seasonally adjusted number of mortgage applications fell by 1.4 percent compared to last week.
While refinancing activity did show some decline, it was the reduction in home purchases which showed the biggest drop. Purchase applications dropped off 3.3 percent compared with the previous week, and reached levels 38 percent below the same week last year.
The drop in buyer interest came at the same time as the MBA noticed a reduction in average interest rates. Interest rates for both 30- and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages continued to drop. The average rate for 15-year FRMs fell to 3.88 percent - matching the all-time low for the survey.
The data reinforces the trend of reduced homebuying and moving demand. A report from Campbell Surveys earlier this week found the real estate agents were finding that buyer demand had "hit a brick wall" and created a difficult market for sellers.
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