Home Mortgage Applications Rise

Washington, DC, May 18, 2011--For the third week in a row, applications for home mortgages rose last week.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity climbed 7.8% in the week ended May 13. This includes both refinancing and home purchase demand.

Though loan requests for home purchases fell by 3.2%, the MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications increased by 13.2%. This is the highest level for both indexes since early December.

"The 30-year fixed mortgage rate is now 53 basis points below its 2011 peak, and has decreased for five straight weeks," said Michael Fratantoni, MBA's vice president of research. "Over this five week span, the refinance index has increased by about 33 percent."

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.6% in the week, falling only slightly from 4.67% the week before. This was the lowest rate seen in the survey since late November 2010.