The ""Mortgage Bankers Association"":http://www.mortgagebankers.org (MBA) issued its ""Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey"":http://www.mortgagebankers.org/NewsandMedia/PressCenter/69418.htm on Wednesday, which showed the applications for home loans - both new purchases and refinances - rose last week.
For the week ending June 19, 2009, MBA reported total mortgage loan application volume was up 6.6 percent from one week earlier, and was 17.2 percent higher than the same week a year ago.
MBA's Purchase Index increased 7.3 percent compared to the week before. The Refinance Index rose by 5.9 percent. The refinance share of mortgage activity remained relatively flat, down only one-tenths of a percentage 54 percent of total applications.
The industry association also reported the average interest rates for mortgage contracts last week, which fell for long-term home loans.
The rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) dropped to 5.44 percent, compared to 5.50 percent the week before. The average contract interest rate for 15-year FRMs decreased to 4.93 percent, down from 4.99 percent one week earlier.