U.S. Mortgage Applications Drop Last Week
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and purchasing loans, for the week ended Feb. 2 dipped 0.2 percent to 630.1.
The four-week moving average of mortgage applications, which smooths out the volatile weekly figures, was down 1.6 percent.
Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 6.23 percent, down 0.06 percentage point from the previous week in their first drop since early January.
Last week's interest rates were slightly below year-ago levels of 6.25 percent.
The MBA's seasonally adjusted purchase index, widely considered a timely gauge of U.S. home sales, fell 0.8 percent to 404.7. The index was also below its year-ago level of 425.1.
Consumers looking to refinance their current home loans tend to be sensitive to shifts in interest rate moves, which may have been behind last week's modest rise in demand for this type of transaction.
The group's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications increased 0.2 percent to 1,943.4. A year earlier the index stood at 1,751.0.
The refinance share of applications decreased to 46.1 percent from 47.4 percent the previous week.
Fixed 15-year mortgage rates averaged 5.96 percent, down from 6.01 percent. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) decreased to 5.84 percent from 5.86 percent.
The ARM share of activity increased to 22.3 percent from 21.4 percent the previous week.
U.S. housing industry indexes, in general, tend to be volatile, but a spate of recent data has shown improvement in the sector.
The MBA's survey covers about 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential loans. Respondents include mortgage banks, commercial banks and thrifts.