Mortgage purchases were up 6.7 percent last week, fueled by a more than 10 percent increase in government loans, according to the weekly Mortgage Bankers Association report.
The jump in the government loan activity is likely related to people securing government loans in advance of a scheduled increase in Federal Housing Authority loan insurance premiums, which took effect last Friday, MBA economists said.
Overall applications dipped 2 percent last week and the percent of the market made up of refinance activity also continued to drop.
The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage inched up slightly from 4.92 to 4.93 percent last week.
