Real estate loan applications fell last week, led by a drop-off in home purchases, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today in its weekly survey.

The market composite index, a measure of mortgage application volume, sank 2.5 percent, falling to 630.6 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 646.6 one week earlier.

The index that tracks home purchases fell 4.2 percent from the beginning of April, according to MBA, while the refinance index dipped 0.3 percent — its fifth consecutive weekly decrease.

Foreclosure filings in March jumped 47 percent compared to the same month last year, to a rate of one foreclosure filing for every 775 U.S. households, online foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac reported today.

The company reported 149,150 foreclosure filings — including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — in March, which represents a 7 percent rise from the adjusted February total.

California, Florida, Texas, Michigan and Ohio — the five states with the most foreclosure filings in March — accounted for half of the nation’s foreclosure filings. All five of these states had foreclosure rates above the national average in March.