As has been confirmed by official figures shared by the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage applications from across the US nudged higher last week, making it the third consecutive week to record a rise in applications. The rise was mainly driven by a "slight uptick in demand for home refinancing loans".

The US housing market has been driven higher on the back of attractive mortgage rates and high affordability rates. The sector has now started to show definite signs of recovery after a slump of 3 long years, but experts have been quick to warn that the market is still vulnerable to setbacks.

For the week up-to December 11, the index of mortgage applications, which included both purchase and refinance loans, surged by 0.3% to 667.3, which is about 50% of the total number recorded at the peak which was hit earlier this year. 75.2% of total applications received were from customers looking for refinancing loans, up from last week's figure recorded of 74.4%.

The four-week moving average of mortgage applications, which has managed to smooth down the fast-changing figures a bit, had hiked by 1.5%.