Mortgage refinance and purchase applications across the country increased last week, while the month of August saw Massachusetts refinance activity nearly double.

In August, Massachusetts saw its residential mortgage refinance volume nearly double compared to last year, with almost $12.17 billion in activity, according to data from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

About 23,700 mortgages were refinanced in August on one- to three-family homes and condominiums, a 54.3 percent increase over August 2019. The $12.17 billion in activity was 95.7 percent higher than August volume last year, which saw $6.2 billion in refinance volume.

The state’s residential refinance activity stood at $79.37 billion year-to-date through August, a 14.8 percent increase over the same eight months last year.

Refinance volume on single-family homes increased 132.1 percent year-to-date through August compared to the same period last year, while condominium refinance volume increased 162.4 percent year-over-year. Refinance activity began to pick up in the second half of 2019 after the Federal Reserve made the first of three cuts to the benchmark interest rate at the end of July. Mortgage interest rates have reached historic lows several times in 2020.

More than 17,700 single-family homeowners and 3,200 condo owners refinanced in August compared to about 11,000 and 2,000, respectively, last year.

The number of single-family purchase mortgages in August increased just slightly compared to last year, from 5,972 to 6,000. But single-family purchase volume increased 14.9 percent year-over-year to $14.1 billion, reflecting rising home prices in Massachusetts.

Uncertainty brought on by the pandemic and lack of inventory have affected the purchase market year-to-date, as the number of single-family purchase mortgages has decreased 9 percent year-to-date compared to last year, and the number of condominium purchase mortgages are down 14.3 percent. Overall, the number of purchase mortgages for all residential types is down 11.8 percent year-to-date compared to the same period last year

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, the MBA’s Refinance Index showed that refinance activity for the week ending Sept. 18 had increased 9 percent from the previous week. Refinance activity was 86 percent higher compared to the same week one year ago.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 64.3 percent of total mortgage applications from 62.8 percent the previous week.

Overall, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 6.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 18 percent compared with the previous week. The previous week’s results included an adjustment for the Labor Day holiday.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 3 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 13 percent compared with the previous week and was 25 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

“Mortgage applications activity remained strong last week, even as the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and 15-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to their highest levels since late August. Purchase applications were up over 25 percent from a year ago, and the demand for higher-balance loans pushed the average purchase loan size to another record high. The strong interest in homebuying observed this summer has carried over to the fall,” Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting, said in a statement. “Despite the uptick in rates, refinance applications increased around 9 percent and were almost 86 percent higher than last year. Both conventional and government refinance activity, and in particular FHA refinances, picked up last week.”