Banking

Mortgage Apps Sink as Rates Rise 

Mortgage applications dropped 3.2 percent last week as mortgage rates headed northward, according to a report issued this morning by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The MBA’s Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, registered 649.5 for last week, a decrease of 3.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 671 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, however, the Index was up 5.3 percent compared with the same week one year earlier — suggesting a somewhat mixed picture regarging borrower sentiment towards the mortgage market.