U.S. mortgage rates soar, suppressing demand for home purchases and refinancing.

Impacted by the increased volatility in the US Treasury bond market, mortgage rates in the US saw the largest increase since October last week, leading to a decrease in home purchase and refinancing applications. According to data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) on Wednesday, as of the week ending April 11, the 30-year fixed mortgage contract rate rose by 20 basis points to 6.81%, the highest level since February. Adjustable-rate and 15-year fixed mortgage rates also rose. The rise in financing costs halted the six-week streak of increasing home purchase applications, highlighting the sensitivity of homebuyers to interest rates in the situation of continuously high housing prices. The MBA's home purchase index decreased by 4.9%. The refinancing index dropped by over 12%, marking the fourth decline in the past five weeks. Last week saw a surge in US mortgage rates. Mortgage rates follow the trend of the 10-year US Treasury bond yield, which surged by 0.5 percentage points last week as global markets were shaken by the trade war. The 10-year US Treasury bond yield recorded the largest weekly increase in over 20 years, raising concerns about the US losing its global safe haven status. As of this week, the yield has gradually fallen. The MBA survey has been conducted weekly since 1990, with respondents including mortgage bankers, commercial banks, and savings institutions. The data covers over 75% of retail residential mortgage applications in the US.