Even though mortgage interest rates moved lower again last week, application activity continued to decline. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of application volume, decreased 2.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis and 3.0 percent before adjustment during the week ended May 27. The Refinance Index fell another 5 percent from the previous week, leaving it down by 75 percent from its level during the same week in 2021. Refinancing made up 31.5 percent of the application volume. It had a 32.3 percent share the previous week. [refiappschart] The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent from one week earlier and 2 percent unadjusted. Purchase applications declined 14 percent year-over-year. [purchaseappschart] Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting said, “Mortgage rates fell for the fourth time in five weeks, as concerns of weaker economic growth and the recent stock market sell-off drove Treasury yields lower. Mortgage applications decreased to its (sic) lowest level since December 2018 , as the purchase market continues to struggle with supply and affordability challenges. With the 30-year fixed rate at 5.33 percent, the refinance market continues to shrink, led by larger decreases last week for FHA and VA refinance applications. The refinance index was 75 percent below last year’s level, when rates were more than 200 basis points lower.”