Mortgage applications fall in latest week: MBA

Reuters
A "Price Reduced" sign is displayed on a home for sale in northern Virginia suburb of Vienna, outside Washington, October 27, 2010. REUTERS/Larry Downing

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Applications for U.S. home mortgages slipped last week as refinancing applications dropped, an industry group said on Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, fell 2.2 percent in the week ended July 25. The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications fell 4.0 percent, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases, a leading indicator of home sales, rose 0.2 percent. Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.33 percent in the week, unchanged from the week before. The survey covers over 75 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, according to MBA. (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Diane Craft)