Mortgage demand falls even as rates slip from recent highs

Mortgage application volume barely moved last week, falling 0.5% compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.

Rates, meanwhile, dropped back a little bit last week, but they’re still near a 22-year high.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) decreased to 7.06% from 7.16%, with points falling to 0.73 from 0.88 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment. That rate was 3.24% the same week one year ago.

The slight drop was enough to move the needle a tiny bit on refinance demand. Those applications rose 0.2% for the week but were…