Mortgage applications rise as 30-year rate hits three-week low
The Market Composite Index, the MBA’s seasonally adjusted measure of total loan application volume, rose 3.4% week over week, or 3% on an unadjusted basis.
The average contract interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, capped at $832,750, fell to 7.37% from 7.41%, with origination points edging up to 0.76 from 0.75 for 80% loan-to-value (LTV) loans.
As major banks revised their Federal Reserve rate expectations throughout 2026, even incremental rate relief has been welcomed by a market navigating near-historic affordability pressures.
Joel Kan, CMB, vice president and deputy chief economist at the MBA in Washington, DC, said the movement delivered real but narrow relief.
“The decline in rates gave borrowers some relief, with applications rebounding slightly, particularly conventional applications. Mortgage rates are still more than a percentage point higher than the same week last year and most homeowners still have rates much lower than prevailing market rates,” he said.
