According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey, demand for home purchase loans increased again last week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index was up 3.3 percent from the week before and is up 2.14 percent over the past four weeks. But the growing volume of purchase loans comes at the same time as refinance activity has slowed. The Refinance Index fell last week due largely to a 12.0 percent drop in government refinance activity. Conventional refinance applications also slipped, though by just 3.4 percent. The Market Composite Index, which measures total mortgage loan application volume, was down 2.7 percent from the week before. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.23 percent from 4.19 percent the previous week. More here.