by Calculated Risk on 7/10/2013 08:14:00 AM

From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease as Rates Reach Two-year High in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

The Refinance Index decreased 4 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 3 percent from one week earlier.
...
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,500 or less) increased to 4.68 percent, the highest rate since July 2011, from 4.58 percent, with points increasing to 0.46 from0.43 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.
emphasis added

Note: This was for a holiday week with a large seasonal adjustment. I expect a large decline in refinance activity in the survey next week.

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the refinance index.

With 30 year mortgage rates above 4.5%, refinance activity has fallen sharply, decreasing in 8 of the last 9 weeks.

This index is down 50% over the last nine weeks.

The second graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index.  The 4-week average of the purchase index has generally been trending up over the last year, and even with the recent decline, the 4-week average of the purchase index is up almost 10% from a year ago.