According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey, demand for loans to buy homes rose last week to its highest level since early July. Though slight, the 1 percent increase shows home buyers remain active as the summer market winds down. Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting, says the high end of the market is still dominate. “Home purchase activity continues to be dominated by higher price tiers of the market, with the purchase average loan size now at $396,000, the highest average in five weeks,” Kan said. But while demand for loans to buy homes improved week-over-week, refinance activity was down 4 percent. Mortgage rates, on the other hand, saw little change from the week before. The MBA’s survey has been conducted weekly since 1990 and covers 75 percent of all retail residential mortgage applications. (source)