But the latest weekly figures from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) suggest that Americans aren’t racing to take out home loans.
Mortgage applications dropped 1 per cent in the week to 20 June, according to an index from the MBA, with demand to refinance existing mortgages as well as take out new ones both falling, FastFT reports.
The rate on 30-year mortgages favoured by Americans jumped last summer after the Federal Reserve signalled it was considering ending its stimulus programme - a move that prompted the central bank to delay tapering its bond-buying plan until December.
And the US housing market remains firmly on the central bank’s radar as policymakers weigh whether the economy is robust enough to handle the first rise in interest rates since the financial crisis.
The volume of US mortgage applications have now declined in four out of the last five weeks.
