Mort­gage demand tum­bles as rates dri­ve down hous­ing mar­ket

Mort­gage demand tum­bled again last week amid stub­born­ly high mort­gage rates, which have depressed the hous­ing mar­ket and caused pain for home­buy­ers.
Mort­gage loan appli­ca­tion vol­ume decreased by 0.7% last week on a sea­son­al­ly adjust­ed basis, accord­ing to a report Wednes­day from the Mort­gage Bankers Asso­ci­a­tion.
The vol­ume of refi­nances dropped by 2% dur­ing that same time, accord­ing to the group’s week­ly sur­vey, and has plunged 9% from a year ago.
The declin­ing mort­gage demand comes even as mort­gage rates mod­er­at­ed a bit last week, which typ­i­cal­ly boosts demand. As of Wednes­day, the aver­age rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mort­gage has soared to 6.91%, accord­ing to Mort­gage News Dai­ly. At the end of last month, mort­gage rates had risen above 7.12%.
“Mort­gage appli­ca­tion act …