WASHINGTON – The number of home-loan applications filed nationwide fell sharply in the week ended Oct. 31 as buyers confronted higher interest rates for fixed-rates loans, according to the latest figures from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The trade group’s seasonally adjusted Market Composite Index – a measure of overall mortgage loan application volume – last week fell to 379.9 points (March 16, 1990 = 100 points). That represented a decline of 20.3 percent from the preceding week’s 476.7 points; compared with a year ago, the index fell 43.4 percent.

The MBA’s seasonally adjusted Purchase Index fell 13.9 percent week-over-week to 260.9 points, after rising 8.5 percent the week ended Oct.24 and falling 10.5 percent the week before that. (READ MORE) Applications to purchase a home using Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and other government-backed loans fell 12.8 percent last week while conventional purchase applications fell 14.4 percent, the MBA said.

The Refinance Index fell 27.8 percent last week to 1,075.4 points after rising 28.5 percent the preceding week and falling 23.5 percent the week ended Oct. 17. Refinancing was the goal of 42.9 percent of loan applicants, down from 46.9 percent the week before and 42.6 percent in the week ended Oct. 17, the MBA said.

The share seeking adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) rather than conventional fixed-rate loans rose to 2.5 percent last week from 1.9 percent of applications the week ended Oct. 24 but still lagged the preceding week’s 2.7 percent of applications.

The average contract interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 6.47 percent last week from the previous week’s 6.26 percent, while the contract interest rate on a 15-year, fixed-rate loan rose to 6.14 percent from the previous 6.01 percent. But the average contract rate on a one-year ARM edged down to 6.86 percent from the preceding week’s 6.90 percent average and the 6.97-percent rate of the week ended Oct. 17.

Going forward, “We expect long-term rates to decline from their current levels as massive liquidity injections by central banks around the world and other policy actions work through the system and demand increases for long-dated debt,” Jay Brinkmann, the MBA’s chief economist and senior vice president for research and economics, wrote in a housing-market forecast issued Oct. 1.

The MBA survey – a weekly poll of mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts that dates back to 1990 – covers about 50 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, the trade group said.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is a trade group representing the real estate finance industry. Its 3,000 member companies include mortgage firms, commercial banks, thrifts, life insurance companies and others. Additional information, including the MBA’s Weekly Application Survey, is available at www.mortgagebankers.org.