Mortgage application volume increased 2.1% on an adjusted basis during the week ended June 18, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey.
Despite that mortgage rates increased, applications for refinances increased 3% compared with the previous week while applications for purchases increased 1%.
Year-over-year, applications for refinances were down 9% while applications for purchases were down 14%.
The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.18%, up from 3.11% the previous week.
On an unadjusted basis, total volume increased 1% compared with the previous week.
“Mortgage rates increased last week, with the 30-year fixed rate rising to 3.18 percent – the highest level in a month,” says Joel Kan, associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting for the MBA, in a statement. “Despite the jump in rates, refinances increased for the second consecutive week, pushed higher by a four percent bump in conventional refinance applications.
“Purchase applications have regained an upward trend over the past few weeks,” Kan says. “Activity was slightly higher for the third straight week, but remained lower than the same week a year ago. Government purchase applications drove most of last week’s increase, which also contributed to a slightly lower overall average purchase loan size.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 62.5% of total applications, up from 61.7% the previous week.
The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 3.9% of total applications.
