Mortgage Applications Ebbed This Week, But Next Week Could Be a Different Story

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released the latest mortgage application data this week showing a modest 1.6% decrease from the previous week.  A slight uptick in purchase applications was more than offset by a downtick in refi applications, but both remain in solid territory relative to the prevailing range and interest rate environments. Purchase demand is doing especially well in the recent context.  This week's improvement makes it one of the best 6 weeks in more than a year. The most optimistic way to approach these numbers would be to say that purchase demand looks to have bottomed out in the bigger picture and is now waiting for motivation to bounce back.  When that happens, no one is under much of an illusion that volume would go back to the highs from a few year