“Despite this drop in rates, the number of refinance applications fell,” he said. “In fact, the last time mortgage rates were this low, refinance volume was more than 20 percent higher. It is likely that many borrowers still cannot qualify to refinance given the lack of equity in their homes,”
The housing market still finds itself facing many hurdles — rising foreclosures, falling home prices, tight lending standards and a slowly recovering job market.
The four-week moving average, which is less volatile than the weekly figures, is up 3.0 percent overall and up 1.1 percent for the purchase index and up 3.8 percent for refinancings.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 65.7 percent of total applications from 66.8 percent the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.58 percent from 4.69 percent.