Rising Interest Rates Slow Mortgage Applications in the U.S.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 16, 2018, U.S. mortgage applications decreased 6.6 percent from one week earlier. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 6.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 3 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 7 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 6 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 3 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to its lowest level since July 2017, 44.4 percent of total applications, from 46.5 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.4 percent of total applications.