After decreasing the previous week, mortgage application volume bounced back during the week ended Sept. 18, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey.
Total volume, including applications for both refinances and purchases, increased 6.8% compared with the previous week.
What’s more, total volume was up about 25% compared with a year earlier.
The MBA’s figures are adjusted to account for seasonal patterns and the Labor Day holiday the previous week.
Applications for refinances increased 9% compared with the previous week and were up 86% compared with a year ago.
Mortgage rates edged up slightly but continued to hold at near-record lows.
Applications for purchases increased 13% compared with the previous week and were up 25% compared with the same week a year earlier.
“Mortgage applications activity remained strong last week, even as the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and 15-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to their highest levels since late August,” says Joel Kan, associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting for the MBA, in a statement. “Purchase applications were up over 25 percent from a year ago, and the demand for higher-balance loans pushed the average purchase loan size to another record high.
“The strong interest in home buying observed this summer has carried over to the fall,” Kan adds. “Despite the uptick in rates, refinance applications increased around nine percent and were almost 86 percent higher than last year. Both conventional and government refinance activity, and in particular FHA refinances, picked up last week.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 64.3% of total applications, up from 62.8% the previous week.
The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 2.2% of total applications.