After rising sharply for several weeks, mortgage interest rates pulled back slightly last week, but not enough to revive mortgage demand.

Total mortgage application volume fell 2.9% last week, compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) decreased to 7.21% from 7.31%, with points falling to 0.69 from 0.73 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment.