Mortgage Rates Are Up, So Loan Applications Are Down

As a real estate and mortgage market commentator, I've had to say the phrase "interest rates are at historic lows" so many times, it would be my choice of tattoo text if I were into that sort of thing. (A temporary tattoo, of course.) But last week, mortgage rates went up! And, as a result, the number of consumers who submitted applications for home loans went down, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, released today.

Overall, home loan applications dropped 15% last week, compared with the previous week. Refinance mortgage applications dropped 16.5% to their lowest level since July; and purchase loan applications declined by 8.2% last week to a level 11.3% lower than the same week in 2009.