The failure by the House of Representatives to pass health-care legislation last week fueled the move by investors from stocks to bonds, driving down yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.38 percent Monday, its lowest level since late February.

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Because mortgage rates tend to follow the movement of long-term bonds, home loan rates also dropped.

Rates aren’t expected to move much in the coming week. According to Bankrate.com, which puts out a weekly mortgage rate trend index, nearly two-thirds of the experts it surveyed say rates will remain relatively stable, moving up or down less than two basis points. (A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.) Logan Mohtashami, a senior loan officer with AMC Lending Group, is one who predicts home loan rates will hold steady.

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“Once again we are in a tight range for the bond market from 2.27 percent to 2.62 percent and we haven’t broken either level once,” Mohtashami said. “Pricing for rates will stay in the same range until something on the macroeconomic side or headline side gets us over or under this channel in yields for the 10-year [Treasury].”

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In addition to lower mortgage rates, which increases affordability, more good news arrived for the housing market this week. Pending home sales were up 5.5 percent in February, according to the National Association of Realtors. New-home sales also rose last month.

“Despite recent mortgage rate fluctuation, new home sales far exceeded expectations in February and jumped 6.1 percent to an annualized rate of 592,000,” Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac chief economist, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, mortgage applications were essentially flat last week, according to the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The market composite index — a measure of total loan application volume — slipped 0.8 percent. The refinance index fell 3 percent, while the purchase index increased 1 percent.

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The refinance share of mortgage activity accounted for 44 percent of all applications, the lowest level in nearly nine years.