Mortgage Applications Decline 10.6% for Week

During a holiday-shortened week, U.S. consumers’ applications for home refinancing and purchasing fell despite a drop in fixed mortgage rates, an industry group said.

The Mortgage Bankers Assn.’s index of mortgage application activity declined 10.6% to 605.7 in the week ended Dec. 31.

The association’s purchase index, a gauge of loan requests for home purchases, decreased 13.7% last week to 417.3, while the index of refinancing applications dropped 5.7% to 1,701.3.