The Wall Street Journal is reporting (reposted on realtor.com) that mortgage applications fell to their lowest level in 22 years during the first week of June.  They say this is another sign that the U.S. housing market is “coming back to Earth” after a red-hot, two-year stretch.

Citing data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, they say mortgage applications dropped 6.5% in the week ending June 3 (the 4th consecutive week of declines) along with refinance & purchase activity falling 6% and 7%, respectively.  In addition they report that the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta says a median American household needed 38.6% of its income to cover payments on a median-priced home in March. That figure was up from 32.6% at the end of 2021 and at the highest level since August, 2007.

“The purchase market has suffered from persistently low housing inventory and the jump in mortgage rates over the past two months,” said Joel Kan, associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting at the Mortgage Bankers Association. “These worsening affordability challenges have been particularly hard on prospective first-time buyers.”

Click here to read the full story at Realtor.com.

Click here to read the full story at the Wall Street Journal.