Housing market continues coronavirus recovery

The number of people intent on purchasing a home rose in the past week as the housing market continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The weekly report from the Mortgage Bankers Association was a mixed bag. While purchase applications rose, applications for mortgages and refinancing declined.

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“Purchase applications continued their recent ascent, increasing 5 percent last week and 18 percent compared to a year ago," said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. "The pent-up demand from homebuyers returning to the market continues to support a recovery from the weekly declines observed earlier this spring.”

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Continued high unemployment numbers could eventually have an impact on purchases.

Overall mortgage applications declined 3.9 percent from the prior week, while the refinancing index dropped 9 percent.

“In contrast to the upswing in purchase activity, refinance applications fell for the seventh consecutive week – even as the 30-year fixed rate hit another MBA survey-low of 3.37 percent," added Kan.

This week's figures were adjusted to take into account the Memorial Day holiday.

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The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990.