Investing.com - The number of mortgage applications in the U.S. fell for the first time in two weeks last week, as interest rates moved higher, industry data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the Mortgage Bankers Association said their mortgage market index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, declined by a seasonally adjusted 4.3% in the week ending February 19 to 521.5. That follows a gain of 8.2% to 544.9 in the preceding week.
Refinance volume, which had been charging higher for weeks, took a breather, falling 8% from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances inched up to 3.85% from 3.83% in the preceding week.
"The dollar volume of refinance applications decreased by 26%, while refinance applications based on loan count decreased 17%, indicating that the volume of larger loans dropped to a greater extent than smaller loans,'" said Michael Fratantoni, chief economist for the MBA.
The survey covers over 75% of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, according to MBA.