Mortgage Loan Applications Take a Steep Dive

Key Points:

• Evidently, mortgage loan applications decided to participate in the World Cliff Diving Championship last week, plunging down by a seasonally adjusted 10 percent. Talk about going for a (not so) refreshing swim…

• This shocking revelation comes courtesy of a survey of lenders conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association, who probably had the same gobsmacked expression as the rest of us.

Hot Take:

Whoa, that’s some crash and burn! If the rate of mortgage loan applications was a megastar, it just plummeted faster than a one-hit wonder losing their chart spot. It’s like the lenders were playing a high-stakes game of musical chairs, and a lot of would-be borrowers found there’s no chair left for them when the interest rate music stopped.

Well, look on the bright side, at least this cliff dive of loan applications will give the mortgage market the shock treatment it needs to wake up and smell the inflation. And who knows? Maybe, with a little luck and plenty of interest (pun intended), we might just see a resurgence in applications. After all, any seasoned cliff diver knows they have to resurface eventually!

Original article: https://www.inman.com/2024/02/21/rising-mortgage-rates-taking-a-big-bite-out-of-homebuyer-demand/