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Purchase Applications

Optimal Blue mortgage data shows 50% refi jump in January as rates dip

HWmember, MBS, Mortgage, Mortgage Rates, Optimal Blue, Origination, Purchase Applications, Rate Lock, Refinancing /

Optimal Blue reported a sharp increase in refinance activity in January as falling mortgage rates spurred borrowers to act, according to its January 2026 Market Advantage data report released on Tuesday. Total rate-lock volume rose 16% from December and was 36% higher than in January 2025. The increase was driven primarily by rate-and-term refinances, which […]

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Housing inventory and new listings show impact of winter weather

Housing Inventory, Housing Market, Housing Market Tracker, HWmember, Mortgage Rates, New listings, Purchase Applications /

I was amazed that the last Housing Market Tracker didn’t show much drama from the epic late-January snowstorm that impacted much of the U.S., but today’s tracker data got hit for sure. However, the housing market will be back in full force again soon. Last week, inventory declined, new listings data was negative year over

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Lower mortgage rates boosting demand early in 2026

Housing Inventory, Housing Market, Housing Market Tracker, HWmember, Mortgage Rates, New listings, Purchase Applications /

Lower mortgage rates are driving increased housing demand in 2026, as shown by another positive week in our Housing Market Tracker data. Both weekly pending home sales and purchase application data posted gains last week — both week over week and year over year. My work over the years indicates that housing demand strengthens when

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Housing demand is off to a solid start in 2026

Existing home sales, Housing Inventory, Housing Market, Housing Market Tracker, HWmember, Mortgage Rates, Purchase Applications /

Housing 2026 is off and going, and so far this year, with mortgage rates near 6% and mortgage spreads near normal levels, 2026 looks to be the first year of actual growth in existing home sales in years. Last week we had solid data in purchase apps and our weekly pending sales data — with

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The impact of lower mortgage rates on housing inventory

Housing Inventory, Housing Market, Housing Market Tracker, HWmember, Mortgage Rates, Purchase Applications /

Year-over-year housing inventory growth has slowed to single digits, from 33% at one point last year to 9.99%. 2026 is off and running, and we had another crazy week of housing headlines, from Trump announcing a ban on Wall Street investors buying single-family homes to directing the GSEs to buy mortgage-backed securities. But what caught

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Why 2025’s strong purchase application data didn’t boost home sales

Existing home sales, Housing Market, HWmember, Mortgage Rates, Purchase Applications /

Purchase application data had its first positive year in many years in 2025, meaning we had more positive than negative week-to-week data, and most of the year was positive year over year in almost every weekly print. However, existing home sales will likely be only slightly higher in 2025 than in 2024. So how could

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Mortgage applications fall 5% despite rate decline

HWmember, Mike Fratantoni, Mortgage, Mortgage applications, Mortgage Bankers Association, Mortgage Rates, Origination, Purchase Applications /

Mortgage applications decreased 5.0% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending Dec. 19, 2025. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 6% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased 6% from the previous week and was 110% higher than

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Why did the growth rate of housing inventory drop by half this year?

Housing Inventory, Housing Market, Housing Market Tracker, HWmember, Mortgage Rates, New listings, Purchase Applications /

This is the final Housing Market Tracker article for 2025 and we’re going to tackle why the inventory growth rate has been cut in half this year. At one point, we had over 30% year-over-year growth, and that number is now down to 13.54%. Why is this the last tracker of the year? I don’t

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Mortgage demand drops, but refi share reaches highest level since September

HWmember, Mike Fratantoni, Mortgage, Mortgage applications, Mortgage Bankers Association, Origination, Purchase Applications, Refinancing /

Mortgage applications decreased 3.8% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending Dec. 12. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 5% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased 4% from the previous week and was 86% higher than the

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Weekly housing demand reaches multiyear high

Housing Inventory, Housing Market, Housing Market Tracker, HWmember, Mortgage Rates, New listings, Purchase Applications /

As mortgage rates stay near 6%, our weekly housing demand data lines have improved so much that we are at multiyear highs in total pending sales and purchase application data combined. This shouldn’t be a shock for our readers because whenever mortgage rates break below 6.64% and head down toward 6%, housing data noticeably improves

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