Mortgage Application Volumes Down 7.8 Percent

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers' Association (MBA), weekly mortgage applications fell by 7.8 percent in the week ending May 16 and by 9.4 percent on the same time last year.

Three major indexes - the refinance, purchase, conventional purchase and government purchase indexes all experienced declines last week.

Refinancing activity fell 8.7 percent to 2210.5 from 2422.1, Purchase Index dropped nearly 7 percent to 352.5 from 378.8, conventional purchase index lost 6.8 percent while the government purchase index dropped 7.0 percent.

The average rate for traditional, 30-year fixed rate mortgages fell to 5.82 percent from 5.91 percent.

The MBA index is derived from a survey of major lenders representing about half of the U.S mortgages made each week and does not include loans made by non-bank lenders.