Mortgage interest rates fall as refis command increasing market share

Fewer Americans applied for mortgages last week while interest rates dropped back below the 5 percent threshold, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today in its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. Mortgage loan application volume decreased 1.2 percent on the whole during the week that ended Feb. 5, compared to the week earlier, though refinancing application volume rose, increasing 1.4 percent from the previous week and raising its market share to 69.7 percent of all mortgage loan applications. Mortgage applications for purchases declined 7 percent from the week-ago period and 7.5 percent from the same week last year. Meanwhile, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage had an average contract interest rate of 4.94 percent, down from 5.01 percent one week ago. Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.33 percent, unchanged from the week earlier. TRD