Blame it on mortgage insurance rates. Mortgage applications dropped 5.6 percent from a week earlier as of April 22, reported the Mortgage Bankers Association. This coincided with a hike in FHA loan premiums -- over the past month, applications had risen as home buyers tried to beat the deadline. There also was no adjustment made for Good Friday, which fell on the final day of this week.Remarkably, however, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage interest rate declined to 4.80 percent. In this turbulent housing market, low interest rates alone apparently are not enough to counter plunging home values and naggingly high unemployment. Is this the dreaded double dip in the housing market economists have feared?
For more insight on mortgages and refinancing see these AOL Real Estate guides:
