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Despite a continued increase in purchase applications, mortgage loan application volume fell 4.4 percent for the week ending July 23, 2010, the ""Mortgage Bankers Association"":http://www.mbaa.org/default.htm (MBA) reported Wednesday.
[IMAGE] [COLUMN_BREAK]According to MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, the purchase index inched up 2 percent from one week earlier. This, MBA said, marked the highest purchase index observed in the survey since the end of June.
The uptick in purchase applications wasn't enough to keep overall mortgage application volume on the rise, though.
The week-to-week dip came as the refinance index tumbled 5.9 percent. As a result, the refinance share of mortgage activity fell to 78 percent of total application from 79.4 percent the week prior.
A slight increase in mortgage interest rates from one week to the next likely had an impact on the overall decline in mortgage applications. According to MBA, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages edged up to 4.69 percent from 4.59 percent, and the average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages nudged up to 4.12 percent from 4.05 percent.
