New applications for U.S. home loans fell last week for a second straight week, even as 30-year mortgage interest rates fell to their lowest level in four months, an industry group said Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted market index, a measure of mortgage activity, dipped for the week ending August 6 by 0.7 percent to 616.1 from the previous week’s 620.4.
The Washington trade group’s seasonally adjusted refinancing index, however, rose after falling for four consecutive weeks. For the week ended August 6, it rose by 2.5 percent to 1,640.5 from previous week’s 1,600.3.
Thirty-year mortgage rates, excluding fees, averaged 5.80 percent, down 0.17 percentage point from the previous week and down 0.20 percentage point from a year ago. The 30-year rates fell to their lowest level since the week of April 9 when they averaged 5.77 percent.
Rates fell sharply lower as the U.S. bond market staged a huge rally last Friday, prompted by paltry U.S. job growth in July. The disappointing employment reading stirred hopes that the Federal Reserve would curb its stand in raising interest rates the rest of year.
Ten-year Treasury yield , benchmark for 30-year mortgage rates, hit their lowest level since April.
On Tuesday, however, the Fed as expected raised short-term U.S. rates by a quarter percentage point. Fed policymakers dashed hopes that they will relent on its “measured” path to hike rates, saying that signs of an economic slowdown are temporary.
Mortgage lenders remained optimistic that the latest rate decline would boost their business. Countrywide Financial Corp. , one of the largest U.S. lenders, said Tuesday it expected a near-term rebound in new mortgage application activity after reporting a 7 percent drop in loan funding in July from June.
The Washington trade group’s purchase index, a gauge of new loan requests for home purchases, fell last week for the first time in three weeks by 2.7 percent to 440.0 from 452.0 in the prior week.
