Mortgage demand resilient in the first half of 2026

Demand for mortgage purchase applications has shown some resilience in the first half of this year, even as rates ticked up amid a lot of dramatic headlines. At one point, mortgage rates rose 0.76% from their yearly lows to their highs. How has this impacted mortgage demand? As crazy as this sounds, if I take the snow impact out of the data pool, 2026 has been an awfully calm year.

For my What the purchase application data and our weekly pending home sales data show is that housing demand bottomed out years ago, and as affordability slowly improves — with wage growth outpacing home-price growth — it’s building a better base over time. Also, mortgage rates staying below 7% so far in 2026 has helped. Again, hug a mortgage spread. 

All this provides a much healthier housing market going out for years to come and is much better than the