Mortgage rates in the US continued to slip, falling for the fifth consecutive week, according to the latest figures from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Average interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate home loans dropped to 4.60 percent in the previous week, the lowest since last November.
Interest rates on 15-year mortgages also dropped to an average of 3.75 percent, a decline from 3.81 percent in the previous week.
Demand for mortgage refinancing has been gradually increasing, as rates have dropped, with total refinance applications increasing by one-third over the past five weeks. Refinance applications climbed 13 percent over the past week alone but are still running at approximately half of their October 2010 recent peak.
The falling interest rates have not affected strengthened interest in home acquisitions but applications for mortgages to acquire homes continue to drop.
The applications for home purchase mortgages dropped a seasonally adjusted 3.2 percent in the previous week and have decreased by a weekly average of 2.9 percent over the past month.
Last week, purchase applications were running 1.7 percent below their level in the same period in 2010, when home sales activity plunged, in the wake of the 30 April 2010 deadline for the home buyer tax credit.
The weekly MBA survey covers almost half of all residential mortgage applications in the US, with interest rate averages based on loans with an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio.
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