U.S. mortgage application activity strengthened to its strongest level in eight weeks as the borrowing costs on 30-year home loans held steady, Mortgage Bankers Association data released on Wednesday showed.

The Washington-based industry group said its measure on mortgage applications increased 2.4 percent to 415.7 points in the week ended May 5, as the average interest rate on conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was unchanged at 4.23 percent.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 41.9 percent of total applications from 41.6 percent the previous week.

Meanwhile, CNBC.com reported that mortgage application volume is still nearly 14 percent below year-ago levels because of weaker refinancing.

"Continuing strength in the job market and improving consumer confidence drove overall purchase applications to increase last week," MBA economist Joel Kan told CNBC.

"The index for purchase applications reached its highest level since the beginning of October 2015, which was the week prior to the implementation of the federal government's 'know before you owe' rule."

(Newsmax wires services Reuters contributed to this report).

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