by Calculated Risk on 8/07/2013 07:03:00 AM

From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Slightly Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

Mortgage applications increased 0.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 2, 2013. ...

The Refinance Index was unchanged from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1 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 4.61 percent from 4.58 percent, with points increasing to 0.42 from 0.38 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.
...
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.66 percent from 3.67 percent, with points increasing to 0.43 from 0.40 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the refinance index.

With 30 year mortgage rates up over the last 3 months, refinance activity has fallen sharply, decreasing in 11 of the last 13 weeks.

This index is down 57% over the last 13 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 (but down over the last month), and the 4-week average of the purchase index is up about 7% from a year ago.