Mortgage applications went up last week as most other measures of application activity declined or stayed flat, according to the ""Mortgage Bankers Association"":http://www.mbaa.org/default.htm (MBA).
[IMAGE]The trade group found that mortgage application crept forward by 1.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis and 2 percent on a seasonally unadjusted basis.
[COLUMN_BREAK]Government applications fell for purchases and conventional loans. Purchase indices ticked up 3.5 percent from the week before on 5.4 percent increase in conventional purchases.
Refinance applications by and large went up, with the index by the same name registering 1.3 percent in increases from last week. The Government Refinance Index dipped by 2.3 percent, with the refinance share of mortgage activity down to 72.1 percent of total applications, the lowest since early April.
Government purchase share waxed over the course of the week from 37 percent to 35.8 percent of applications, making it the lowest share of government purchases since March 2009.
The four-week moving average climbed 1.13 percent for the seasonally adjusted Market Index and 1.81 percent for the Refinance Index, while it dipped by 0.82 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index.
Except for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, interest rates fell lower for mortgage loans across the board last week.