the numbers us housing market activity continued to slow as mortgage rates rose and fears of a recession deepened which pushed the market composite index a measure of mortgage application volume down further the mortgage bankers association mba said on wednesday the market index fell 12 to 2701 in the week ending august 19 one year ago the index stood at 7371 key details the refinance index dropped by 3 and was down 83 compared to a year ago the purchase index which measures mortgage applications for the purchase of a home fell by 1 from the previous week the big picture mortgage applications give us a sneak peek of what buyer demand looks like and how the housing market data will look like in the following weeks for now it looks like buyers are still cautious given recession fears and higher interest rates “mortgage applications continued to remain at a 22year low held down by significantly reduced refinancing demand and weak home purchase activity” joel kan associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting at mba said in a statement but there are some signs of firsttime home buyer activity increasing he noted within purchase results government applications are up 4 the mba said the average size of the loan is decreasing the 30year fixedrate mortgage for conforming balances or loans of 647200 or less averaged at 565 for the week ending august 19 up from 545 the week before the mba said the mba also noted a drop in adjustablerate mortgages which comprise just 65 of total applications the average rate on the arm fell from 443 to 481 market reaction the yield on the 10year treasury note tmubmusd10y rose above 305 before the market opened