What changed and why
If you felt like borrowing got pricier fast, you are not imagining it. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, total application volume fell 4.1% from the prior week on its seasonally adjusted index, which was further tweaked to account for Labor Day. The group's weekly average showed the contract rate for 30-year fixed mortgages with conforming loan sizes of $832,750 or less increasing to 6.97% from 6.85%. Upfront points, including the origination fee, rose to 0.72 from 0.67 on loans with 20% down.
At the MBA, vice president and deputy chief economist Joel Kan said, "Ongoing market concerns over spiking energy prices, persistently high inflation, and future monetary policy pushed bond yields and mortgage rates higher last week."
Refi and purchase demand
Refinancing, which tends to react quickly to rate moves, took the bigger hit. Refi applications fell 9% from the prior week and were 65% below the same week a year ago. A year earlier, the 30-year fixed rate was 58 basis points lower, erasing much of the payoff from refinancing now. As Kan put it, "The current level of rates eliminated much of the benefit to refinance for many borrowers, resulting in declines in conventional, FHA, and VA refinance applications."
Purchase activity also cooled. Applications to buy a home dipped 1% for the week and stood 19% under the level from the same week last year. Buyers are still wrestling with elevated prices, and while listings have increased in many markets, a lot of that new supply sits at the higher end.
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Rates keep rising into Fed week
A separate look from Mortgage News Daily showed rates pushed past 7% by last Thursday. They kept grinding higher to start this week, with the average 30-year fixed at 7.22% on Tuesday, just ahead of the Federal Reserve's meeting on Wednesday. Matthew Graham, Mortgage News Daily's chief operating officer, wrote, "Over the past 6 [business] days, the average is up 0.33%, which is is the most abrupt jump since October 2024." "At least some of the recent volatility is due to the implications of recent economic data and oil price implications on Fed policy."
Compared with a year earlier, mortgage rates sit nearly 1 percentage point higher.
What it means for your money
Higher rates are sidelining would-be movers and killing the math on many refis, which feeds into slower loan volume and skews sales toward the pricier end where inventory is showing up. If you are watching housing-linked corners of your portfolio, this backdrop tends to favor lenders with flexible product mixes and investors focused on markets where supply is actually loosening.
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