Americans filed fewer new requests for a new mortgage last week, bringing the weekly volume to its lowest level in nearly a year and a half even as mortgage rates fell, a U.S. industry group said on Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted measure of mortgage loan demand for the week ending Dec. 5 fell 12.2 percent from the the prior week to 601.6, the lowest reading since 565.5 for week ending June 14, 2002.
Overall mortgage demand has subsided as fewer homeowners sought to refinance their mortgages when mortgage rates climbed from their 45-year lows this summer. Home sales have remained on track for a record year, but the blistering pace has cooled a bit since the end of summer.
New loan requests to refinance and to buy a home fell last week from the previous week. The mortgage group's seasonally adjusted purchase loan index fell 9.5 percent last week to 399.8, and its seasonally adjusted measure on refinancing activity dropped 15.5 percent to 1,775.5.
Refinancing applications accounted for 49.4 percent of all new requests filed, down from prior week's 50 percent.
Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans, the most popular U.S. mortgage type, averaged 5.76 percent excluding fees last week, down 17 basis points from the prior week.
With higher rates on fixed-rate mortgages, borrowers have opted to take out adjustable loans with rates that could run more than two full percentage points lower than 30-year loans.
Last week's share of applications for adjustable-rate mortgages was 29.3 percent, up from prior week's 26.6 percent, the mortgage industry group said.
Each week, the MBA surveys between 20 to 35 firms, among them the top lenders in the U.S. housing industry to derive its refinance, purchase and market indexes. This weekly survey accounts for more than 40 percent of all applications processed each week by mortgage lenders.