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Mortgage applications up last week: MBA

Mortgage applications up last week: MBA
Wednesday September 21, 7:02 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Applications for U.S. residential mortgages rose last week as higher interest rates failed to deter borrowers from refinancing their existing home loans, an industry trade group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its index of total mortgage applications for home purchase and refinancing loans rose 1.5 percent to 772.2 in the week ended September 16. The index fell 1.4 percent in the previous week.

The MBA's purchase index fell 2.6 percent to 500.3, reversing the previous week's 2.9 percent gain.

The refinancing index rose 7.0 percent to 2,353.7, more than offsetting the previous week's 6.7 percent loss.

The indexes were all seasonally adjusted, the MBA said.

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates rose 9 basis points, or 0.09 of a percentage point, to an average of 5.81 percent, excluding fees, compared with 5.72 percent in the previous week.

The fixed 30-year mortgage rate, considered an industry benchmark, is below its 2005 high of 6.08 percent, reached in late March. It is above its 2005 low of 5.47 percent, reached in late June; a year ago, the rate stood at 5.66 percent.


LINK: http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/050921/economy_mortgages.html?.v=1