Borrowers are also shifting toward adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), which carry a fixed rate for an initial period before resetting.
Mortgage applications fell 1.5% for the week ending September 18, as the 30-year fixed rate hit 7.12%, its highest point since May 2024.https://t.co/02M12WmOsU
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) September 23, 2026
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said ARMs made up 9.8% of applications for the week ending September 18.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, put it bluntly in a blog post last week: “Expect 7% as the new normal.”
Bill Dallas, chairman of Dallas Capital, has been pressing clients to accept that reality.
“Look, you’ve been in this mess for a while, and the low-rate cavalry, you kept praying that these guys are going to show up,” Dallas said in an interview on why the low-rate cavalry isn’t showing up. “I’ve tried to tell my clients that that’s not going to happen.”
