U.S. mortgage applications fall in latest week: MBA

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[May 06, 2015]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week as interest rates jumped, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, fell 4.6 percent in the week ended May 1.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications fell 8.3 percent to its lowest level since January, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases, a leading indicator of home sales, rose 0.8 percent to its highest level since June 2013.

The refinance share of total mortgage activity fell to 53 percent of applications from 55 percent the week before.

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 3.93 percent in the week, up 8 basis points from 3.85 percent the previous week.

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

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Diane Craft)

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