The volume of mortgage applications submitted weekly rose 6.7% in the week ending July 2, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The amount of applications submitted for refinance jumped 9.2% to the highest volume in more than a year, since the week ending May 15, 2009. The uptick in refinance interest brings the refi share of total applications to 78.7%, from 76.8% a week earlier. “Mortgage rates remained near record lows last week, as incoming data on the job and housing markets were weaker than anticipated,” said MBA vice president of research and economics, Michael Fratantoni, in a statement. “As more homeowners locked in to these low rates, the level of refinance applications increased to a new 13-month high.” At the same time, the amount of applications submitted for purchase mortgages fell 2%, marking the eighth weekly decline out of the last nine weeks. In the month of June alone, MBA found that purchase applications plummeted nearly 15% from a moth earlier and more than 30% from April, the last month for prospective buyers to enter a sales contract in order to qualify for the first-time homebuyer tax credit, according to Fratantoni. The share of applications specifically for adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.4% from 4.7% a week earlier, according to MBA. The Mortgage Maxx index, which adjusts data to reflect the number of households applying for a mortgage, found 7.1% more households submitted applications than the week before. Write to Diana Golobay.