Mortgage Applications, Often A Good Leading Indicator Of Buyer Activity, Rising Quickly!

The number of people making applications for mortgages tends to be a good indicator of current and future buyer activity.

The graph above shows that mortgage applications in 2020 were a good bit above 2019 through the middle of March and then they took a nose dive.  That said, over the past two weeks, the rate of buyers making mortgage applications has started to rise quickly again -- and is nearing the same place it was a year ago at this time.

Mortgage applications precede close sales by a month or two (or more) so this may be an early indicator that buyer activity is starting to stabilize and increase again.

of note -- this is a national trend - locally, we did not see as much of a drop off in buyer activity in March and April as this graph would suggest.