The MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey is out, and shows that mortgage applications dropped for the second consecutive week. The core composite index dropped 3.9 percent, while the purchase index — considered by some economists to be a leading indicator for home sales — dropped 4.9 percent. Interestingly, however, the composite remains up 16.3 percent compared to year-ago levels. And refinance share increased slightly as well:

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 0.7 percent to 638.5 from 643. The four week moving average is up 0.1 percent to 444.5 from 444.0 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 2.0 percent to 1780.1 from 1815.8 for the Refinance Index. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 38.7 percent of total applications from 38.0 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 20.4 from 20.3 percent of total applications from the previous week.