Mortgage Applications Climb

Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose last week as borrower activity bounced from a holiday-related slowdown in mid-January, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity gained 11.3% in the week ended Jan. 28. The index had fallen nearly 13% in the prior week that included the Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications rose 11.7%, and the gauge of loan requests for home purchases climbed 9.5%.

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.81% in the week, up 0.01 percentage point from the prior week.