Total mortgage applications plummeted last week-over-week as mortgage rates rose to their highest level since October last year.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the contract rate in a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 13 basis points to 6.43% in the week ending 20 March.
This is the highest it's been in nearly six months.
Following this, the MBA’s weekly applications index dropped 10.5% to 310.7, which is the lowest level since January.
Applications to refinance existing loans tumbled 14.6%, and applications for loans to purchase a new property fell 5.4%.
This comes as the yield on the 10-year United States government security, the most influential to mortgage rates, shot up since the beginning of the war in Iran and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, causing the blockage of around 20% of the world’s oil.
The 10-year Treasury yield has climbed from 3.96% on the Friday before the attacks began on 28 February to 4.39% on Tuesday, matching its highest end-of-day level since July.
“The threat of higher for longer oil prices continued to keep Treasury yields elevated, and mortgage rates finished last week higher,” MBA vice president and deputy chief, Joel Kan, said.
“The 30-year fixed rate rose to 6.43%, more than 30 basis points higher than at the end of February and at its highest level since October 2025.”
Despite mortgage applications falling week-over-week, they were still 52% than the same week one year ago.
“Higher mortgage rates, coupled with affordability constraints and economic uncertainty, pushed some potential homebuyers to the sidelines,” Kan said.
