Record Low Mortgage Rates do Little for Demand

What now:

Home loan demand climbed last week but record low mortgage rates failed to light a fire in a market constrained by unemployment and tight lending practices.

Mortgage purchase and refinancing applications rose by less than 1 percent in the first week of August, even as 30-year loan rates fell to 4.57 percent, the lowest in 20 years of record keeping by the Mortgage Bankers Association.