Home loan demand nationwide cooled last week as rising mortgage rates curbed refinancing requests that had soared to a 14-month high, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

Loan requests to buy homes rose for the second straight week to the highest level since the end of June, but hovered just above 13-year lows. Refinancing still represents nearly eight out of every 10 mortgage applications.

Many consumers doubt that job market improvement is around the bend, and lending standards remain tight, putting home buying out of reach even with borrowing costs near record lows.

The industry group’s mortgage market index fell by a seasonally adjusted 4.4 percent in the week ended July 23. A 5.9 percent refinancing applications drop overshadowed a 2 percent rise in home purchase loan demand.

Average 30-year mortgage rates climbed to 4.69 percent, up 0.10 percentage point in the week from the lowest level since the group starting tracking rates weekly in 1990.

“It’s just an indication that demand for housing at the moment is very weak given that the incentives have just come off,” said Bob Baur, chief global economist at Principal Global Investors in Des Moines, Iowa.

Housing is bottoming now, fighting strong headwinds created by unemployment flirting with 10 percent, he said.