After two straight weeks of increases, mortgage applications fell 4.2% for the week ending May 21, 2021, according to the Mortgage Bankers Associationof weekly investigating mortgage loan applications.

“Demand is strong across the country, but homebuyers continue to be held back by a shortage of homes to sell and rapidly rising home prices,” said Joel Kan, associate vice president of economic forecasting. and industrial MBA.

Kan noted that refinancing has also declined – 7% and 9% less year over year – due to the decline in both conventional and government refinancing activity.

“And purchase requests increased for the second time in three weeks, rebounding from a rather weak April with mostly weekly declines,” he said. “While purchasing activity was around 4% lower than a year ago, the comparison relates to the strong resumption of activity last spring, following the lifting of lockdowns linked to the pandemic . “

After hovering below 3% for a month, the 30-year average fixed mortgage rate according to the Freddie Mac PMMS climbed six basis points to exactly 3% last week. Rates climbed north of 3% in the first few months of 2021, but hit 3.2% in March before dropping back down.

The refinancing share of the activity fell to 61.4% of total mortgage loan applications, against 63.3% the previous week. the FHA the share of total mortgage applications fell to 9.1% from 9.2% the week before. the Virginia the share of total requests increased from 12% to 11.2%.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of this week’s mortgage application data:

• The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages with compliant loan balances ($ 548,250 or less) fell from 3.15% to 3.18%.
• The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (above $ 548,250) fell from 3.31% to 3.30%.
• Average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased from 3.20% to 3.20%
• The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages fell from 2.54% to 2.53%.
• Average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased from 2.58% to 2.81%