Mortgage applications were on the rise last week even as interest rates continued to climb upward, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports in its weekly mortgage application survey.

Loan requests for home purchases, viewed as a leading indicator of future home sales, climbed 2.2 percent in the week ending Feb. 1. Refinancing applications increased 3.5 percent.

Overall, the MBA index, which includes both loans for purchase and refinancing, ticked up 3.4 percent during the week.

Meanwhile, mortgage rates continued to fall slightly off all-time lows set in previous weeks. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.73 percent last week, up from 3.67 percent the week before. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the most popular choice among home buyers, has risen seven of the last eight weeks, according to the MBA.