Rates leap to highest level in more than a year

Mortgage rates rose to their highest level in more than a year, which decreased demand for home loans last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported.

Mortgage applications for home purchases, considered a leading indicator of future home sales, dropped 3 percent last week.

Meanwhile, mortgage applications for refinancings dropped 3.1 percent.
The MBA reports that 30-year mortgage rates rose 2 basis points last week to average 4.17 percent, the highest level since March 2012. This marked the sixth consecutive week for rate increases.

The MBA’s index covers 75 percent of the nation’s retail residential mortgage applications.