The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances increased to 7.49 per cent from 7.30 per cent the prior week, with points rising to 0.84 from 0.75 for loans with a 20 per cent down payment.
Applications to refinance a home loan dropped 8 per cent for the week and were 56 per cent lower than the same week one year ago.
"Very few homeowners have an incentive to refinance at these rates," said Joel Kan, an MBA economist. "With rates roughly a percentage point higher than a year ago, refinance applications last week were at the lowest level since 2025 and fell to less than half of last year's pace."
Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home declined 2 per cent for the week and were 15 per cent lower than the same week one year ago. Purchase activity fell across all loan types, with FHA purchase applications declining 6 per cent.
"These higher rates add to ongoing affordability challenges for many homebuyers," Kan added. He noted that a higher share of borrowers are opting for adjustable-rate mortgages to lower initial payments, with the ARM share steady at 10.3 per cent last week.
A separate survey from Mortgage News Daily indicated rates pulled back slightly this week to 7.56 per cent for the average lender. Matthew Graham, the firm's chief operating officer, described the recent high as a potential "double top" that some analysts watch for when trying to identify momentum shifts, though he cautioned it was too soon to conclude a change in trend.