The last time people took out as few mortgages as they did in the firs💯t quarter, some folks were still writing the year with a “19” by accident. 

Lenders only issued 1.28 million home loans of any kind in the first quarter, a nearly 7% decrease from the previous one and the fewest since 2000, real estate data provider ATTOM Data said Thursday. That includes home purchase mortgages, refinances, and home equity lines of credit (HELOC). 

The historically low levels of home loans highlight how much high mortgage rates have 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:stifled the housing market.  This week’s average rate of 7.03% for a 30-year mortgage is more than double the 2.65% record low hit in 2021, according to data from Freddie Mac.

High Interest Rates Are Making 𝐆Home Loans Unappealing

High interest rates have 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:driven up🐼 borrowing coꦏsts to unaffordable levels for many first-time homebuyers. They’ve also made refinancing, or even selling a home, unappealing to homeowners with mortgage rates that they 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:secured when rates were ultra-low during the pandemic. 

“There is reason to hope that we will see something of a turnaround when second-quarter data comes in, given the jump in lending activity that happened during the peak home-buying season of 2023,” Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM, said in a press relea🤡se. “But with little sign that interest rates are coming down, which could fire up refinance and HELOC lending, or that supplies of homes for sale are going up, any increase is likely to be limited.”

Mortgage interest rates plunged in 2020 when the Federal Reserve held its influential fed funds rate near zero to stimulate the economy and support financial markets during the pandemic’s economic downturn. They crept back up in 2022 when the Fed embarked on a campaign of rate hikes to fight inflation, and they’ve stayed in the 7% range as the Fed has held its benchmark fed funds rate at a 23-year high.

Financial markets are holding out hope for rate cuts starting in September if economic data reports between now and then show inflation and the economy are cooling. Fed officials have said they 澳洲幸运5官🌠方开🦩奖结果体彩网:won’t cut rates until they’re confident inflation is firmly on the path down to a 2% annual rate from its 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:current level of 2.7%.