U.S. residential mortgage refinancing activity climbed to a six-month high last week, a trade group said on Wednesday, fueled by a third straight weekly drop in borrowing costs on the heels of a pair of major bank collapses that have clouded the outlook for interest rates.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly index of overall home loan application volumes climbed 2.9 percent to notch a fourth week of gains, the longest up-streak in four years. The increase was led by a 4.8 percent rise in applications to refinance an existing loan, which brought that activity to its highest level since last September and furthered the distance from a two-decade low hit at the end of last year. Applications for loans to purchase a home rose 2 percent.
