Investing.com - The number of mortgage applications in the U.S. fell rose sharply last week, as interest rates moved lower, industry data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the Mortgage Bankers Association said their mortgage market index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased by a seasonally adjusted 8.2% in the week ending February 12 to 544.9. That follows a gain of 9.3% to 503.6 in the preceding week.
Refinances were entirely behind the gains, increasing 16% for the week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances inched down to 3.83% from 3.91% in the preceding week.
"Treasury rates fell again last week, and mortgage rates fell to their lowest level in over a year, with rates on jumbo loans dropping to their lowest level since December 2012,'" said Michael Fratantoni, chief economist for the MBA.
The survey covers over 75% of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, according to MBA.