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Thu Feb 09, 2012
Consumer demand for home loans fell to a two-month low last week, following four weeks of steady increases.
The abrupt decline came despite the fact that borrowing costs remain significantly low, with long-term interest rates still well below the 5 percent threshold.
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday that for the week ending December 18, total mortgage application volume decreased 10.7 percent from one week earlier.
Refinances, making up three-fourths of all applications, decreased 10.1 percent from the previous week. Requests for new purchases slumped 11.6 percent.
Based on MBA’s study, which covers more than 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages remained flat at 4.92 percent.
Interest rates for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.34 percent last week, up just slightly from 4.33 percent the week before.
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