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Mortgage Demand Pulls Back at Year’s End

January 5, 2021

After a massive surge throughout most of the year, homebuying activity eased up in the final weeks of 2020. Mortgage applications to purchase a home fell 0.8% in the two weeks ending January 1, as compared to the previous two weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. 

Even more telling, purchase volume was just 3% higher than in the same period a year prior. Year-over-year comparisons in recent months have shown growth of more than 20% annually.

Mortgage rates have remained at or near record-lows, so most analysts attribute the pullback to rising prices. Home prices rose nationally by 8.4% in October, the largest one-month increase in more than a deacade.

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