Mortgage Applications Jump 6.2% as Rates Ease a Fourth Week, but Hot CPI Sends Daily Rates Back to 7.30%

Mortgage demand rose sharply in the first week of November as borrowing costs fell for a fourth straight week. The Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey, released Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, covers the week before this week's hotter-than-expected inflation report. That report pushed daily mortgage rates back up on Tuesday.

Applications climb 6.2%

The MBA's Market Composite Index, which measures total mortgage application volume, rose 6.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ended Nov. 6, Realtor.com reported. The gain more than reversed the prior week's 1.2% decline, according to Moody's Analytics.

The Purchase Index rose 8% from the week before after seasonal adjustment but was 18% lower than a year earlier. Refinance applications rose 5% for the week but were 57% below the same week in 2025, CNBC reported. The refinance share of activity was unchanged at 39.8%.

The MBA's average contract rate on 30-year fixed mortgages with conforming balances fell to 7.21% from 7.30% for loans with a 20% down payment. That was the fourth straight weekly decline and the lowest level since mid-September. A year earlier, the same rate averaged 5.99%.

"Mortgage rates declined for the fourth straight week," said Joel Kan, the MBA's vice president and deputy chief economist. "The declining trend in rates helped to spur stronger application activity, although the pace of purchase and refinance applications remain considerably lower than a year ago."

FHA and VA loans lead

Kan said conventional, VA and FHA purchase applications all rose during the week, "with particularly strong growth for FHA and VA loans." He added that "the FHA rate was back below 7 percent and was more than 20 basis points lower than the conforming rate, which helped first-time home buyers currently in the market."

Adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 10.9% of applications from 11.4% the week before. The FHA share of total applications slipped to 15.5% from 16%. The VA share rose to 12% from 11.2%, and the USDA share eased to 0.5% from 0.6%, according to Realtor.com.

Inflation report reverses the trend

The easing trend ended this week. The average 30-year fixed rate tracked by Mortgage News Daily rose 12 basis points on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to 7.30%, the largest one-day increase in more than a month, CNBC reported. The move followed the government's October consumer price index, which rose 0.4% against forecasts for 0.3%.

"Given that the Fed explicitly said it was more focused on the inflation component of its job description at the moment (as opposed to the 'full employment' component), we were expecting today's data to carry far more weight than last week's jobs report," Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily, wrote on Tuesday.

Other gauges also show rates above 7%. Freddie Mac's weekly survey put the 30-year average at 7.18% last week, down from 7.21% the week before, according to Realtor.com. Fortune, citing Mortgage Research Center data, put the average 30-year conforming rate at 7.107% on Wednesday morning, up from the day before. Its 30-year FHA average was 6.486%.

Mortgage rates usually track the 10-year Treasury yield, which briefly rose above 5% on Tuesday. The U.S. bond market is closed Wednesday for Veterans Day, while stock trading goes on as normal, Yahoo Finance reported.

Commercial real estate: refinancing strain

Higher long-term yields are also weighing on commercial property owners. In a report released Nov. 11, data provider Trepp and its unit Commercial Real Estate Direct said 75% of maturing class-A office loans in commercial mortgage-backed securities would need fresh equity to refinance at current rates. That is a higher share than for class-B and class-C office loans, largely because most class-A loans are interest-only.

Office loans make up $22.2 billion of the $61.1 billion of private-label CMBS loans reaching hard maturity in 2027, Trepp said. The CMBS delinquency rate reached 8.02% in September, and office loans had the highest rate at 12.33%. Loans in special servicing climbed to $69.53 billion, or 11.49% of CMBS loans. Trepp said that is the largest volume and share since the period after the global financial crisis.

Prices are showing more stability. Trepp's Property Price Index fell just 0.12% in the second quarter and was 4.96% above its June 2022 level, with retail the only property type to gain on both equal-weighted and value-weighted measures. The report noted that the 10-year Treasury yield reached 5.23% on Oct. 9.

"The CRE market still has momentum, but rising long-term rates are making it harder for many borrowers to refinance," said Orest Mandzy, managing editor of Commercial Real Estate Direct. "Borrowers facing maturities over the coming quarters will need fresh equity, more time, or both."

What comes next

The government's October producer price index is due Friday, Nov. 13, after weekly jobless claims on Thursday, Kitco News reported. The MBA's next weekly applications survey is scheduled for Nov. 18. The Federal Reserve's next policy meeting is Dec. 8-9.