Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week as refinance demand faltered, even as mortgage rates hit another record low, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, decreased 1.3 percent in the week ended May 25.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications gave up 1.5 percent after rising for the previous three weeks.

The gauge of loan requests for home purchases, a leading indicator of home sales, slipped 0.6 percent, the third week in a row the measure has been down.

Despite the decline in demand, the refinance share of total mortgage activity held steady at 76.6 percent of applications.

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 3.91 percent, down 2 basis points from 3.93 percent the week before. Rates have been tumbling since late March, and last week's rate was a fresh survey low, MBA said.

The survey covers over 75 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, according to MBA.