After three straight weeks of declines, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported last week that U.S. mortgage applications increased 11.7 percent.
While refinance applications rose 12.1 percent, home purchase loan applications, a leading indicator of home buyer demand for homes, jumped 11.7 percent.
Refinance applications made up 82 percent of total mortgage activity, the same as the previous week. Mortgage applications rose depsite an increase in average mortgage interest rates from 3.52 percent to 3.61 percent, the highest level since early November.
The MBA survey covers more than 75 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.