Mortgage applications dropped last week for financing the purchase of homes and refinancing existing mortgage fell last week even as mortgage rates were near record lows as reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association Wednesday.

The drop may have been due to the holiday as "The MBA does not provide a holiday adjustment for the Easter/Passover weekend, which may have contributed to this week's decrease in application volume," MBA said in a statement.

Requests for new loans dropped after five straight weekly increases. The US mortgage applications index dropped 11 percent to a seasonally adjusted 1,113.2 in the week ended April 10. The purchase index dropped 11.3 percent to 264.1 and the refinance index fell 10.9 percent to 6,071.7.

In the week ended April 10, the average rate for fixed-rate 30-year mortgages declined to 4.70 percent from 4.73 percent a week earlier. The rate was at an all-time low 4.61% two weeks ago according to the MBA.

The homeowners are taking advantage of the low rates to avert foreclosure are the biggest beneficiary of the falling rates. The MBA's refinancing index slipped last week but has doubled since the end of February.

Purchase applications had also increased in the past five weeks.