by Calculated Risk on 4/24/2013 08:41:00 AM

From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase Slightly in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

The Refinance Index increased 0.3 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.3 percent from one week earlier to the highest level since May 2010.
...
The HARP share of refinance applications increased from 31 percent last week to 32 percent this week, the highest level since MBA began tracking HARP applications in February 2012.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,500 or less) decreased to 3.65 percent from 3.67 percent, with points decreasing to 0.41 from 0.50 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the refinance index.

There has been a sustained refinance boom for over a year.

According to the MBA, the HARP program is contributing significant to the current level of refis.

The second graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index.  The 4-week average of the purchase index has generally been trending up over the last year, and the purchase index last week was at the highest level since May 2010.