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REFIs, FHA Lead Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

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RISMEDIA, April 17, 2008-The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 11, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 743.4, an increase of 2.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis from 725.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 2.7% compared with the previous week and was up 16.4% compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index increased 5.2% to 2866.0 from 2724.7 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 0.8% to 381.6 from 384.7 one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index decreased 2.1% while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) increased 3.5%.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 3% to 780.8 from 758.0. The four week moving average is up 1.1% to 381.5 from 377.4 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 4.4% to 3120.5 from 2987.8 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 53.5% of total applications from 52.2% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 6.0 from 6.5% of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.74% from 5.78%, with points decreasing to 1.05 from 1.11 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.27% from 5.39%, with points increasing to 1.19 from 1.11 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 7.02% from 7.06%, with points decreasing to 1.28 from 1.46 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

The survey covers approximately 50% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.

For more information, visit www.mortgagebankers.org.

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