For the first time in a month, mortgage applications dropped 11 percent.
The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of loan applications dropped 11 percent to 513 last week.
In November, since the first time home buyer tax credit was set to expire, home sales have dropped at the end of the year. The first time home buyer tax credit has been extended through June 30.
"We're seeing some stabilization in the housing market," Russell Price, a senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Detroit, said before the report. "The spring selling season should be fairly positive, especially if we do start to see some positive employment growth and mortgage rates remain fairly low."
He purchase index dropped to 215.6 from 223 the week before.
Last week mortgage rates on a 30 year fixed increased to 5.02 percent. At the end of March, the rate reached its lowest of 4.61 percent
In December, new home sales rose 3 percent to a 366,000 annual rate.
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