A second week of lower interest rates appeared to send homeowners scrambling to refinance their higher-rate mortgages assumed over the last few years. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 16.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 15.0 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index soared by 35.0 percent compared to the prior week and was 118 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of applications rose to 48.6 percent from 41.7 percent. [refiappschart] The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index was 3.0 percent higher than a week earlier, and the unadjusted Index was up 2.0 percent. It trailed the Index from the same week in 2023 by 8.0 percent. [purchaseappschart] “Rates on both 30- and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased for the second consecutive week, and combined with the previous week’s rate moves, spurred another strong week for application activity as borrowers with higher rates took the opportunity to refinance,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “ Overall applications increased almost 17 percent to the highest level since January 2023 , driven by a 35 percent increase in refinance applications. The refinance index also saw its strongest week since May 2022 and was 117 percent higher than a year ago, driven by gains in conventional, FHA, and VA applications. Additionally, purchase applications increased by 3 percent, with small gains seen across the various loan types, indicating that prospective homebuyers are slowly reentering the market.”