Dropping Mortgage Rates Giving Lift to Purchase Applications

The recent drop in rates had driven up refinancing applications and is finally giving a lift to purchase applications which rose 3.0 in the October 31 week. Despite the rise, the year-on-year rate remains depressed at minus 13 percent.

The volume of refinancing applications shot up immediately as rates dropped and, after spiking through much of October, fell back 6.0 percent in the latest week. Rates moved up in the week, to 4.17 percent in the week for conforming loans ($417,000 or less) vs 4.13 percent in the prior week.