Mortgage rates fell for a second week, holding at the lowest level in more than a year and a half, as declining financing costs boost loan demand.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage
Consumers, returning from the holidays, have taken advantage of dropping rates to purchase and refinance homes. The Mortgage Bankers Association's loan applications index jumped 49% in the period ended Jan. 9 after an 11% increase the prior week, the Washington-based group said yesterday.
"It's difficult to make a case that it’s not beneficial," Paul Diggle, U.S. property economist for Capital Economics Ltd. in London, said in a telephone interview yesterday. "This is another boost for activity levels."
The housing market is in a "slow and steady progression," with choppiness in demand, Lennar Corp. said today. The company, the largest U.S. homebuilder by market value, reported an almost 50% jump in fiscal fourth-quarter profit, even as it increased incentives to boost sales.
KB Home, a Los Angeles-based builder, fell the most in more than two decades this week after saying profitability in 2015 will be restricted by flattening prices and land costs.
