by Calculated Risk on 10/17/2012 07:03:00 AM

From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

The Refinance Index decreased 5 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent from one week earlier. This is the highest Purchase Index observed in the survey since early June 2012.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,500 or less) increased to 3.57 percent from 3.56 percent, with points increasing to 0.44 from 0.39 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index. The purchase index is up about 8 over the last four weeks and is at the highest level since June.

But even with the recent increase, the purchase index has mostly moved sideways for the last 2 1/2 years.