WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Mortgage applications increased slightly in the United States, according to a report from Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) on Wednesday.
For the week ending Oct. 11, MBA's market composite index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 0.5 percent from a week earlier.
"The ongoing interest rate volatility is impacting a borrowers' ability to lock in the lowest rate possible," said Joel Kan, associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting of MBA.
Besides, the refinance index, which measures the activity to replace higher rate mortgages with lower rate mortgages, increased 4 percent from the previous week, according to MBA.
"Despite a slight rise in mortgage rates last week, refinance applications increased 4 percent and were 199 percent higher than a year ago," said Kan.
After removing the influences of predictable seasonal patterns, the seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased 4 percent from a week earlier, according to MBA.
"Purchase applications slowed for the second week in a row. While near term economic uncertainty is still a factor, other fundamental issues, such as a lack of housing inventory in many markets, is preventing purchase activity from meaningfully rising," Kan added.
