The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a rise of 4.2% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending August 17. The past week marks the first increase in applications after four consecutive weeks of declines. Mortgage loan rate movements were mixed last week.

Mortgage loan rates remained unchanged last week, with the 30-year fixed rate loan ending the week at 4.64%, according to Mortgage News Daily. The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds closed the week at around 2.864%, down by eight basis points week over week. Things don’t get much flatter than that.

On an unadjusted basis, the MBA’s composite index rose by 3% week over week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index also increased by 3% compared with the week ended August 10. The unadjusted purchase index rose by 1% for the week and was 1% higher year over year.

The MBA’s refinance index rose 6% week over week, and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing rose from 37.6% to 38.7%.

Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 6.5% of all applications, up from 6.2% in the prior week.

According to the MBA, last week’s average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was unchanged at 4.81%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped from 4.73% to 4.68%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage slipped from 4.27% to 4.25%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan decreased from 4.06% to 4.00%. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan rose from 4.77% to 4.82%.

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