The number of homebuyers seeking mortgages for second homes has taken a nosedive this year, even as the inventories of single-family homes and condominiums for sale on Cape Cod hit never-before-seen lows last month.

A Redfin analysis of mortgage rate locks from real estate data firm Optimal Blue shows demand for second-home loans is now just below where it was in February 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States. Demand is also down over 90 percent from its pandemic high in March 2021.

“Skyrocketing monthly payments, along with higher loan fees, have priced many second-home buyers out of the market,” Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr said in a statement. “Many would-be second-home buyers are also deterred by turmoil in the stock markets, high inflation and recession fears, and they can be quicker to pull back from the market because vacation homes aren’t a necessity the way primary homes are. The cooldown in the second-home market is likely to continue as long as mortgage rates are elevated and the stock market is slumping.”

In the heart of New Hampshire’s vacation home markets, May’s pending sales were off last year’s tallies in some counties according to the New Hampshire Association of Realtors.

Carroll County saw only 115 sales in May, the most recent data available as of publication time, down 5 percent from May 2021. Neighboring Belknap County was nearly level with May 2021’s tallies, at 113 sales. However, Grafton and Coos counties saw big upticks in sales: Grafton County saw 15 percent more pending sales, at 123, and Coos saw 55 sales, a nearly 28 percent jump.