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

[April 29, 2015] NEW YORK, (Reuters) - Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week as interest rates rose, 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 2.3 percent in the week ended April 24.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications fell 3.7 percent, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases, a leading indicator of home sales, was unchanged from the week before.

The refinance share of total mortgage activity fell to 55 percent of applications, its lowest level since September 2014, from 56 percent the week before.

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 3.85 percent in the week, up 2 basis points from 3.83 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 Leslie Adler)

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