According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey, average mortgage rates increased for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with both conforming and jumbo balances last week. Loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration were virtually unchanged. Nevertheless, the increases led to a decline in mortgage activity, with both refinance and purchase demand lower than one week earlier. Joel Kan, the MBA’s vice president of economic and industry forecasting, told CNBC slowing mortgage demand is in line with the overall housing market trend. “Application activity remained slow, which is in line with weak trends in other housing indicators such as home sales and housing starts,” Kan said. And it’s true that the high level of home buyer demand this year has been slowed by low inventory and higher prices. But despite this, demand for loans to buy homes remains 1 percent higher than last year at the same time. Also, some recent indicators suggest both inventory and prices are starting to show signs of relief for hopeful buyers. The MBA’s weekly survey has been conducted since 1990 and covers 75 percent of all retail residential mortgage applications. More here.

If you’re a potential home buyer with an eye on home prices, there’s good news and bad news in the latest results of the S&P Case-Shiller Price Indices. On the one hand, home price increases may be finally slowing down. Year-over-year numbers show the rate at which prices increased was lower than the month before. This, combined with news that there are more homes being listed for sale, is an encouraging sign that affordability conditions may soon begin to turn in favor of buyers. On the other hand, however, prices are still up more than 6 percent over last year and the increases appear to be fairly consistent across the country. That means, home buyers in the Midwest will be just as likely to find rising home prices as buyers in California and on the West Coast – even if they aren’t moving up as quickly. “Cities west of the Rocky Mountains continue to lead price increases with Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Francisco ranking 1-2-3 based on price movements in the trailing 12 months,” managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, David M. Blitzer, said. “The favorable economy and moderate mortgage rates both support recent gains in housing.” More here.