Highlights
Mortgage banker data continue to be one of the few bright spots for the housing sector, rising 2% to 437.3 in the June 29 week and lifting the four-week average slightly to 445.4. The index, unlike other data in the sector, remains well up from lows earlier in the year.

Another positive signal came from interest rates where the average 30-year fixed mortgage fell 10 basis points in the week to 6.50 percent. But rising rates in prior weeks have been cutting into refinancing applications, which made up 37.8 percent of all applications and down from 38.7 percent in the prior week. The refinancing index fell 2.6 percent to 1687.2.