The latest round of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Application Survey showed a decline in its benchmark Market Composite Index for the week ending on May 29 by 3.9% from the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis. Refinancing activity, fell sharply from the previous week by 8.6%.
However, purchase application activity rose by 5.3%. Continuing the trend that had begun in the second week of April, purchasing activity posted an even higher year-over-year gain this week had, indicating a moderate rise in home buying activity compared to last year.
This week also marks a record low reached by the Primary Mortgage Market Survey’s 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rate in the MBA’s survey, decreasing by 5 basis points from the previous week to 3.37%. Despite the all-time low, refinancing experienced the seventh consecutive week of decline in activity.
Housing demand is proving resilient to the ongoing economic and virus challenges. While many owners of existing homes are not listing their homes for sale, new-home sales, accounting for a smaller share of the market, overperformed in April.
