U.S. applications for home refinancing recorded their biggest weekly increase in a year, reversing previous week's drop which was the steep decrease since December, Mortgage Bankers Association data released on Wednesday showed.

The Washington-based group's seasonally adjusted gauge on mortgage refinancing activity rose 13 percent to 1,367.8 in the week ended July 14, Reuters reported.

It was the biggest weekly increase since a nearly 21 percent gain in the July 1, 2016 week.

Overall, mortgage applications increased 6.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 14, 2017. Last week's results included an adjustment for the Fourth of July holiday.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 6.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 33 percent compared with the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($424,100 or less) remained unchanged at 4.22 percent, with points decreasing to 0.31 from 0.40 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.48 percent from 3.50 percent, with points decreasing to 0.39 from 0.45 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

(Newsmax wires services contributed to this report).

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