The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications ,which includes both purchase and refinance loans, for the week ended Jan. 30 increased 8.6 percent to 795.4 after slumping 38.8 percent during the previous week.

Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 5.28 percent, up 0.06 percentage point from the previous week.

Three weeks earlier, mortgage rates were 4.89 percent, the lowest level recorded since the MBA survey began in 1990.

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A flood mortgage applications have besieged lenders because of record interest rates, and are reassigning scores of workers to handle the crush of would-be borrowers.

WSJ

A large percentage of the applications are for refinancings rather than purchases, and the phenomenon is so new it isn’t yet clear how many of the borrowers will actually receive loans. But some bankers say it could be the beginnings of a possible turning point in a battered lending sector and a still-weak housing market.

Low prices and low rates have caused the surge of loan applications.

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