LONDON (ShareCast) - Mortgage applications tumbled to their lowest in seven months last week following a hike in the cost of borrowing.
The Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications fell 18.9% to 444.8
in the week ended 26 June.
It's not been that low since November 2008 and comes as demand for refinancing loans plunged 30%.
A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage cost an average 5.34%, a fraction less than the week before, but still far more than the record low of 4.61% set in March. They were up above 6.3% a year ago.
The refinancing index sank to 1,482 last week and accounted for 46.4% of applications versus 54% the previous week.
America's housing market has been hammered by the recession and sub-prime mortgage crisis, but things have been looking up in recent months.
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