Mortgage applications gained last week: MBA

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Applications for home mortgages rose last week, with purchase demand improving for the third week in a row as loan rates fell to new lows, 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, gained 1.7 percent in the week ended May 4.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications was up 1.3 percent, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases climbed 3.4 percent.

The refinance share of total mortgage activity eased to 72.1 percent of applications from 72.6 percent the week before. It was the lowest refinance share in a month.

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates fell to the lowest level ever recorded by the survey, averaging 4.01 percent, down 4 basis points from 4.05 percent.

The survey covers over 75 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, according to MBA.

(Reporting By Leah Schnurr; Editing by Leslie Adler)