27 July 2023
Despite President Biden’s positive spin on his economic policies, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s survey for the week ending July 21, 2023, presents a different story. Mortgage applications fell by 1.8% from the previous week, with the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, echoing this decline. The Refinance Index also dropped 0.4% from the previous week, marking a 30% decrease from the same week last year. The Purchase Index saw a 3% decrease from one week earlier, contributing to a 23% drop year-on-year. Since April 2021, there has been a significant slump in the mortgage market: purchase mortgage demand is down by 49%, refinance mortgage demand has declined by 87%, and mortgage rates have spiked by 115%.