Mortgage Applications At Lowest Level Of 2006

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Reuters reports that Mortgage applications, long considered a reliable gauge of housing sales, dropped to their lowest level of the year. Applications are also down from where they were at the same time in 2005.

Another indicator that this bubble is popping?

Here's an excerpt:

Mortgage applications fell last week to their lowest level this year despite a marked drop in interest rates, an industry trade group said Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity for the week ended March 17 decreased 1.6 percent to 565.0 from the previous week's 574.4, its lowest level so far this year.

Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 6.31 percent, down 0.11 percentage point from the previous week's 6.42 percent level, a near four-year peak.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the industry benchmark, was also substantially above its 2005 low of 5.47 percent in late June of 2005 and was close to last year's high of 6.33 percent in the week of Nov. 11.

— The Boy in the Big Housing Bubble