Demand for US mortgages to buy homes and refinance loans bounced from seven-month lows last week, with average 30-year borrowing rates unchanged, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday. The industry group's total loan applications index rose a seasonally adjusted 10.9 percent to 493.1 in the week ended July 3, after slumping the prior week to the lowest level since November.
Last week's report was adjusted to account for the Independence Day holiday on Friday. A sudden spike in home loan rates from record lows in the spring had derailed a race by homeowners to cut monthly costs by refinancing. The group's seasonally adjusted refinancing index rose 15.2 percent last week to 1,707.7, after a 30 percent plunge in the prior week.
Purchase applications, which lagged refinancing demand all through the spring home sales season, rose 6.7 percent last week to 285.6. The average 30-year mortgage rate stayed at 5.34 percent last week. That was up from the record low 4.61 percent in late March, based on MBA data, but sharply below 7.04 percent in the same week a year ago.