Rates Dip, Mortgage Demand Rises

Mortgage applications rose for the first time in three weeks as interest rates on home loans fell from a four-year high last week when the Federal Reserve raised borrowing costs, an industry trade group said today.

"It was surely a reaction to the Fed change in rates, which is not unusual," said Douglas Duncan, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. "Even though typically the market already has what the Fed is going to do factored into it, people still react that way."

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity for the week ended June 30 increased 5.9% to 561.0 from the previous week.

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