Mortgage applications climb as borrowers find openings in volatile market

Key takeaways

• Mortgage applications rose 10.8% in the week ended Friday, the largest increase since February, according to data released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
• The overall increase was driven by a 15% jump in refinance demand and a 7% gain in purchase activity.
• Rates remain elevated and volatile, yet some borrowers moved quickly when short-term dips created brief affordability windows.

Borrowers are finding ways into the housing market, even as mortgage rates remain elevated.

In the week ended Friday, mortgage applications increased 10.8%, according to data released on Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. It’s the largest weekly increase since February. That overall increase was fueled by a 15% surge in refinance demand and a 7% jump in purchase demand. Both refinances and purchases also increased on an annual basis.

The turnaround in demand comes amid mortgage rate volatility driven by the war in Iran and resulting economic implications for the United States. Last week, Freddie Mac reported that its weekly reading of the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.48%, a slight decrease from the previous week but still among the highest averages in months.

By the start of this week, though, daily averages were back up, closing in on 6.7% after data about the job force released Friday showed a stronger labor market than expected. Even so, “there were opportunities where borrowers were seeing somewhat lower rates,” at least last week, according to Mike Fratantoni, senior vice president and chief economist at the MBA.

The data is the latest sign that lenders and borrowers are finding creative ways to get in on today’s market — despite the volatility in the mortgage market.

Dan Frio, a lender with PBT Bancorp in Chicago, for example, told Homes.com News that he’s advising his clients to get pre-approved at rates higher than today’s averages. “If you can get pre-approved at a rate that is a quarter to half a percent higher than where today’s rates actually are, then the shock isn’t really going to affect you,” Frio explained in an interview. “If you don’t qualify at that rate, you might not want to buy right now.”

Other lenders have gone so far as to suggest that their clients buy two homes or not buy a house at all to get a borrowing plan that works for their budget.