U.S. mortgage activity posts biggest fall in four months: MBA

[August 28, 2019]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. mortgage applications recorded their biggest weekly drop in over four months as home borrowing costs posted their first broad increase in six weeks, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

The Washington-based industry group's seasonally adjusted index on loans requests to buy a home and to refinance one fell 6.2% to 576.2 in the week ended Aug. 23. This was the steepest decline since a 7.3% fall in the week of April 19.

The average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, with conforming loan balances of $484,350 or less, climbed to 3.94% from prior week's 3.90% which was the lowest since November 2016.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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