Mortgage rates may have inched up slightly but that didn’t seem to deter home buyers from shopping for a loan last week. Mortgage application volume rose 2.3 percent week-over-week on a seasonally adjusted basis, driven by an uptick in home purchase applications, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports. Mortgage applications are nearly 24 percent higher than they were a year ago.

After a short dip, mortgage applications for home purchases reversed course last week and rose 5 percent. Purchase applications are 17 percent higher than a year ago.

“Purchase applications got back on track last week, resuming the level of activity observed throughout most of April and May,” says Lynn Fisher, MBA vice president of research and economics. MBA also reported that the average loan size for purchase applications rose to a survey high last week, reaching $307,700.

Meanwhile, applications for refinancings mostly held flat last week, budging just 0.4 percent during the week. MBA reports the average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.85 percent last week, up from 3.82 percent the prior week.

Source: “Homebuying, Not Refinancing, Drives Mortgage Applications Up 2.3%,” CNBC (May 25, 2016)