NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - With 30-year mortgage rates above 7 percent for the second consecutive week, demand for loans to buy homes and applications to refinance mortgage loans fell last week.
Low borrowing costs have been a key factor supporting demand for loans to buy homes. Low mortgage rates have allowed home owners to squeeze equity out of their homes, kicking up spending that has shored up the U.S. economy.
The Mortgage Bankers Association of America said on Wednesday its widely watched measure of home loan refinances, the MBA refinance index, fell 21.1 percent to 1,406.3 last week. Also, the trade group's measure of demand for loans to purchase a home, the purchase index, fell 1.2 percent to 310.9.
At the same time, the MBA said its seasonally adjusted market index fell 11 percent to 471.6.
Each week, the MBA surveys between 20 and 35 firms, including the top lenders in the U.S. housing industry, to derive its refinance, purchase and market indices. This weekly survey accounts for more than 40 percent of all applications processed each week by mortgage lenders.
(( -- Aleksandrs Rozens, U.S. Mortgage Unit, 646-223-6315))



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