Mortgage applications rise in latest week: MBA

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mortgage applications rose for a second consecutive week, fueled by a jump in demand for home refinancing loans as interest rates dropped, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications, which includes both purchase and refinance loans, for the week ended May 9 climbed 2.9 percent to 674.4.

Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 5.82 percent, down 0.09 percentage point from the previous week.

Interest rates were also below year-ago levels of 6.13 percent.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted purchase index dropped 0.7 percent to 378.5. The index was also below its year-ago level of 432.3, a drop of 12.4 percent.

Overall mortgage applications last week were 0.2 percent below their year-ago level.

The four-week moving average of mortgage applications, which smoothes the volatile weekly figures, was down 2.7 percent to 633.6.

REFINANCING DEMAND JUMPS

The group's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications jumped 6.5 percent in the week to 2,422.1 and was up 14.5 percent from its year-ago level of 2,115.5.