U.S. mortgage rates heading back toward record low

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. home loan rates fell to a five-week low last week in a renewed test of the record low borrowing costs set in April, Freddie Mac said on Thursday.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate declined 0.07 percentage point to 4.91 percent in the week ended November 12.

That rate, the lowest since 4.87 percent in the week ended October 8, nudged closer to the all-time low of 4.78 percent in April. A year ago, the rate was 6.14 percent.

"Mortgage rates eased further over the week, helping to promote an affordable home-purchase market and stimulate refinance," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said in a statement.

Applications to refinance home loans jumped 11.3 percent last week, pushing their share of total mortgage requests to nearly 72 percent, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday.

Demand for loans to buy homes, meantime, sank to a nearly nine-year low as a jump in unemployment to a 26-1/2 year high of 10.2 percent dented already fragile consumer confidence.

(Reporting by Lynn Adler, editing by W Simon )