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Mortgage refinance and purchase applications across the country increased last week.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, the MBA’s Refinance Index showed that refinance activity for the week ending Sept. 18 had increased 9 percent from the previous week. Refinance activity was 86 percent higher compared to the same week one year ago.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 64.3 percent of total mortgage applications from 62.8 percent the previous week.

Overall, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 6.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 18 percent compared with the previous week. The previous week’s results included an adjustment for the Labor Day holiday.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 3 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 13 percent compared with the previous week and was 25 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

“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. 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 homebuying observed this summer has carried over to the fall,” Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting, said in a statement. “Despite the uptick in rates, refinance applications increased around 9 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.”