Mortgage application volume fell last week after a surge in the previous week. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday that mortgage loan application drop 7.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Dec. 5.

The previous week’s mortgage loan application volume had increase 112.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis as a result of the Fed purchase of debts which caused the interest rates to go down.

Mortgage activities include refinancing which is 73.7 percent of total applications,  an increase from 69.1% the previous week.

Moves to stabilize home prices by getting more buyers were introduced last month. It is intended to get more buyers into the market. This was through the buying of $500 billion of mortgage-backed securities and $100 billion of debt issued by government-sponsored mortgage financiers Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500).

The Mortgage Bankers Association said 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 5.45% for the week ending Dec. 5 from 5.47% the previous week.

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages plunged to 5.09% from 5.13%.

The rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 6.76% from 6.61% the previous week.

The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity fell to 1.1% from 1.4% of total applications from the prior week.

For the refinancing, the index dropped this past week by 0.9% after increasing sharply by  203.3% the week prior.

The weekly survey which has been started in 1990 includes approximately 50% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.