Mortgage applications dropped 3.3 percent last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association announced Wednesday.
For the week ending Aug. 14, purchase applications were down 1 percent from the week before – but were 27 percent higher than the same week last year. The Refinance Index dropped 5 percent from the previous week but was 38 percent higher than last year.
“The housing market remains a bright spot in the current economic recovery and these results, combined with July data on housing starts and homebuilder optimism, suggest that housing supply could be increasing to better meet the strong demand for buying a home,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 64.6 percent of total applications from 65.7 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 2.7 percent of total applications.