the numbers weaknesses in both purchases and refinance applications pushed the market composite index a measure of mortgage loan application volume to its lowest level in 22 years the mortgage bankers association mba said on wednesday the market index fell 65 to 2884 in the week ending june 3 one year ago the index stood at 6454 key details the refinance index dropped by 6 and was down 75 compared to a year ago the purchase index which measures mortgage applications for the purchase of a home fell by 7 from the previous week the big picture the slowdown in the housing market is in full effect thanks to the market pricing in a series of future rate hikes by the federal reserve mortgage rates were “high enough” to “suppress refinance activity” said joel kan mba’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting in a statement kan said the purchase market was suffering from “persistently low housing inventory” and the increase in rates over the last two months the housing market is becoming even more unaffordable particularly for firsttime buyers kan added rates on mortgages have risen across the board as a result of the fed’s stated desire to continue hiking interest rates in an attempt to curb inflation in the us the 30year fixedrate mortgage averaged at 54 for the week ending june 3 up from 533 the week before the mba said the mba also noted a drop in adjustablerate mortgages which comprise just 82 of total applications the average rate on the arm jumped from 446 to 451 investors who trade fed funds futures contracts expect the fed to raise its benchmark rate to a range of 2753 by the end of the year according to the cme group’s fedwatch tool the fed’s benchmark rate is currently in a range of 0751 market reaction the yield on the 10year treasury note tmubmusd10y rose above 3 in early morning trading