Mortgage Applications Slip in Latest Week

By Luciana Lopez

NEW YORK -- Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell in the latest week as interest rates edged higher, an industry group said Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, fell 2.1 percent to 373.3 in the week ended March 7.

The index hit its lowest level since December 2000 at the end of last year, soon after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced it would start reducing its $85 billion per month bond-buying program as the economy grows strong enough to stand on its own.

The interest rate on fixed 30-year mortgages averaged 4.52 percent last week, up 5 basis points from the previous week.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications fell 3.1 percent. The gauge of loan requests for home purchases, a leading indicator of home sales, fell 0.5 percent.

The survey covers more than 75 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, according to MBA.