Because of rising interest rates, far fewer Americans are able to afford homes.

From CNBC. Rising interest rates are crushing the mortgage market, as precious few homeowners can now benefit from a refinance and more potential homebuyers become priced out.

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Total mortgage application volume fell another 6% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Volume was down 41% from the same week one year ago.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 4.90% from 4.80%, with points decreasing to 0.53 from 0.56 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment. That rate was just 3.36% one year ago….

Applications to refinance a home loan, which have been falling steadily for months, dropped another 10% week to week. Refinance demand was 62% lower than the same week one year ago….

Mortgage applications to purchase a home declined 3% for the week and were 9% lower than the same week one year ago. A strong employment market with continuing wage growth is keeping housing demand hot, but the supply of existing homes for sale is still extremely lean….

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(Excerpt from CNBC. Photo Credit: Sieuwert Otterloo on Unsplash)