Mortgage applications continued to tumble down, posting a 9.8% drop from a week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

This came in tune with the refinance index plummeting 12% and the seasonally adjusted purchase index sinking 3% from a week earlier, the industry trade group said.   

loanDepot Chief Economist Jim Svinth said, “Today’s report on existing-home sales shows that while consumers are in the market to buy a home, there simply is a lack of inventory. That discrepancy was also represented in the mortgage applications survey and the decrease in purchase applications.”

Meanwhile, Quicken Loans Chief Economist Bob Walters said, “It’s quite likely that we will look back on this period as being among the best times in history to purchase a home.”

“As the economy continues to firm, the likelihood that interest rates will rise increases and home prices will continue their upward climb as well,” Walters said.