For the week ending March 29, mortgage applications for home purchases were up almost 7%, but this was most likely driven by the increased cost of an FHA mortgage starting April 1.  Overall mortgage applications for home purchases are up about 4% over last year, while refinancing applications are starting to decline.  With the increases in home sales the 4% increase in mortgage applications is to be expected. Refinancing applications are also expected to decline as interest rates slowly start to inch upwards.