Chain Gang! US Mortgage Rates Rise for Seventh Week to Highest in 16 Years (Basic Mortgage Applications Fall To May 1997 Levels, Refi Apps DOWN 86% YoY, Purchase Apps DOWN 37% YoY)

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In addition to creating the highest inflation rate in 40 years, we are now seeing the highest mortgage rate in 16 years. I feel like we are all on a chain gang.

(Bloomberg) — US mortgage rates jumped to a 16-year high of 6.75%, marking the seventh-straight weekly increase and spurring the worst slump in home loan applications since the depths of the pandemic.

In fact, mortgage application just fell to the lowest level since May 1997.

The contract rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose nearly a quarter percentage point in the last week of September, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday. The steady string of increases in mortgage rates resulted in a more than 14% slump last week in applications to purchase or refinance a home.

Over the past seven weeks, mortgage rates have soared 1.30 percentage points, the largest surge over a comparable period since 2003 and illustrating the abrupt upswing in borrowing costs as the Federal Reserve intensifies its inflation fight. 

The effective 30-year fixed rate, which includes the effects of compounding, topped 7% in the period ended Sept. 30, also the highest since 2006.

The Refinance Index decreased 18 percent from the previous week and was 86 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 13 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 13 percent compared with the previous week and was 37 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

Here is today’s table of MBA mortgage applications and its ugly.

Meanwhile, the politicians in Washington DC are twisting the night away while the rest of the nation suffers.

Unfortunately for the US chain gang, gasoline prices are rising again as the US drains its petroleum reserve. Because, that’s the way … uh-huh … they like.

Published by confoundedinterest17

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