Ongoing decreases in lending activity during the first quarter resulted from losses in all major categories of residential lending.

The purchase-loan activity went down another 9.9% from January to June, to about 565,000, while refinancing deals dipped downward by 1.9% to 491,000. Home-equity credit lines slipped 9% to 222,000. Home mortgage lending took another hit in the first quarter of 2024 as average interest rates for 30-year fixed loans rose close to 7%. That continued to push up home ownership costs at a time when near-record home prices in most of the country already were unaffordable, or a significant financial stretch, for average wage earners. Purchase lending was further eroded amid counts of homes for sale that were less than half the levels seen five years ago. Total lending activity is down in two-thirds of the nation. Banks and other lenders issued a total of 1,277,899 residential mortgages in the first quarter of 2024, down from 1,371,344 in the fourth quarter of 2023. The fallback continued a three-year run of declines, broken only by a spike in the second quarter of last year.