U.S. mortgage applications rose after three week series of declines as interest rates went lower according to the Mortgage Bankers Association last Wednesday.

The seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications for the week ended August 22 increased 0.5 percent to 421.6. Mortgage applications during the previous week had fallen to their slowest rate since December 2000.

Borrowing costs on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 6.44 percent, down 0.03 percentage point from the previous week.

Interest rates were not far from year-ago levels of 6.41 percent.

The MBA’s seasonally adjusted purchase index rose 0.6 percent to 315.9. The index came in well below its year-ago level of 424.0, a drop of 25.5 percent.

Overall mortgage applications last week were 31.5 percent below their year-ago level. The four-week moving average of mortgage applications, which smooths the volatile weekly figures, was up 0.05 percent to 424.9.

The group’s seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications increased 0.3 percent to 1,038.0. The index was down 40 percent from its year-ago level of 1,729.6.

The refinance share of applications increased to 35.2 percent from 34.8 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity decreased to 7.9 percent, down from 8.0 percent the previous week.

Fixed 15-year mortgage rates averaged 5.94 percent, down from 5.99 percent the previous week. Rates on one-year ARMs increased to 7.15 percent from 7.07 percent.

While U.S. housing market indexes remains unstable, data from the MBA may help the market see how the troubled housing sector is performing.