Mortgage application volume increased 8.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending December 4, according to the latest survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
On an unadjusted basis, the index was up 54 percent compared with one week earlier, though that was the holiday shortened Thanksgiving week.
The weekly gain was led by an 11.1 percent increase in refinance applications and a four percent increase in purchase activity, mainly via FHA loans.
But applications to purchase a home were still off 18.8 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, which doesn’t say a whole lot about the extension of the homebuyer tax credit.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 74.4 percent of total applications from 72.1 percent a week earlier despite a rise in interest rates.
The popular 30-year fixed averaged 4.88 percent, up from 4.79 percent, while the 15-year fixed climbed to 4.33 percent from 4.27 percent.
Meanwhile, the one-year adjustable-rate mortgage bucked the rising trend, falling a single basis point to 6.55 percent.
The MBA’s weekly survey covers more than half of all retail, residential home loan applications, but does not factor out declined or multiple apps.
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