Markets Are Strange! Mortgage Applications Rise 27.9% Since Previous Week, But Purchase Applications Remain 35% Lower Than Last Year (Refi Apps 81% Lower Than Last Year)

Confounded Interest ^ | 01/18/2023 | Anthony B. Sanders

[Kaiser8408a]

Markets are strange.

Mortgage applications increased 27.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 13, 2023. But mortgage applications are 60% lower than the same week last year.

The Refinance Index increased 34 percent from the previous week and was 81 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 25 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 32 percent compared with the previous week and was 35 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

Here are the stats.

One lender in particular, Wells Fargo, smells blood in the economic waters, and has cut back mortgage originations.

Just remember, mortgage applications generally rise in the first part of the year until May, then start slowing until the last week of the year.

[Kaiser8408a]

The more data that comes out, the worse I realize how bad Biden and Congress have been for the middle class.

[devane617]

My hood hasn’t slowed down at all. Sales are high, inventory low and prices are out of sight.

[Rockingham]

The same here in Florida. You too live in a Red State, perhaps, with lots of inbound relocations?

[Bayard]

Red state? If so, that explains why.

[devane617]

I’m on the Florida Gulf coast. I get calls, letter and even random drive-by looking to purchase.

[SaxxonWoods]

Bwahahahaha!

Nothing better than comedy relief in the morning.

[Eva]

Possibly, it wasn’t Wells Fargo’s own idea to reduce the mortgages issued, perhaps it was mortgagees who moved their mortgages out of Wells Fargo after class action suit against Wells Fargo for fraudulent mortgage charges that Wells Fargo was charging their customers. It just isn’t good to have an adversarial relationship with your mortgage holder. I moved our mortgage out of Wells Fargo after fighting with them over the charges. We received a shockingly large settlement and then in December, we received another check for interest on the over charges.

[Eva]

Possibly, it wasn’t Wells Fargo’s own idea to reduce the mortgages issued, perhaps it was mortgagees who moved their mortgages out of Wells Fargo after class action suit against Wells Fargo for fraudulent mortgage charges that Wells Fargo was charging their customers. It just isn’t good to have an adversarial relationship with your mortgage holder. I moved our mortgage out of Wells Fargo after fighting with them over the charges. We received a shockingly large settlement and then in December, we received another check for interest on the over charges.

[Chad C. Mulligan]

People are mortgaging their own homes to stay afloat.

[millenial4freedom]

I’m in Taxachusetts, yet I’m not seeing the ‘glut’ of homes available on the market from people fleeing here to go to red states such as Florida. It’s quite the conundrum. Low inventory in blue states, low inventory in red states. Yet some housing markets have feared better than others. What gives?

[devane617]

“I moved our mortgage out of Wells Fargo after fighting with them over the charges.”

I did too! Never seen a more crooked business than Wells Fargo Bank.

[Rockingham]

I have seen it before. When preferred Red State retirement and relocation venues like Florida and Texas have low inventory available for purchase, listings and sales in Blue states from those intending to move out are necessarily delayed. Eventually, home builders catch up and the backlog is resolved. As the old saying goes, “markets must clear,” meaning that supply and demand must come into balance.

[Jim from C-Town]

Real Estate Lines of Credit?

Could people be tapping into home values to keep up with cost of inflation?

[Eva]

We had kind of a lot of mortgages with Well Fargo, starting with a construction loan, the mortgage and several refies which always included the fee to lock in the low rate, but there must have been a lot of other illegal fees tacked on to mortgages to get as high as ours refund was and over $500.00 interest.