Mortgage applications in the United States rose by 20.4% in the week ending February 28, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey published on Wednesday. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 6.73% from 6.88% in the previous week.
The purchase indicator increased by 0.2 points from the previous week to 144.5, while the refinance index increased to 784.2 from 572.5 previously.
"This is a period where we typically see purchase activity ramp up and purchase applications were up over the week and continued to run ahead of last year’s pace, more green shoots as we head into the spring homebuying season," said Joel Kan, an MBA economist in a release.
