It was the third week in a row that inquiries for refinances were higher as mortgage rates continued to descend to depths not seen before. All signs point to even lower mortgage rates in next week’s report. But at least one category that did not participate in the rally was purchase financing.

A 4 percent increase was recorded from the prior week for the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortech Inc. and Mortgage Daily, leaving the index for the week ended May 18 at 233. The index was unchanged from the week ended May 20, 3011.

The best-performing category in today’s report was refinance, which climbed 10 percent from last week and was 42 percent higher than the same week last year. Refinance business has risen each of the past three weeks.

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