US Mortgage Activity Slides
The Mortgage Bankers Association released its weekly report on US mortgage activity Wednesday, reporting a drop in applications as demand faltered due to the highest interest rates in 10 months. The group's seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications for the week ending February 4th was down 5.5 percent from the previous week. The data includes both purchase and refinancing loan activity.
The drop was fueled by a 7.7 percent drop in applications for refinancing loans, whereas the measure of purchase loans fell by just 1.4 percent for the week. The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages shot up to 5.13 percent for the week, up significantly from the prior week's average of 4.81 percent. It was the highest average for the mortgage since the week ended April 9th, 2010.
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