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Mortgage Applications Drop as Refi Activity Decreases

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RISMEDIA, May 29, 2008-The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 23, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 593.3, a decrease of 4.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis from 621.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 4.6% compared with the previous week and was down 7.5% compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index decreased 8.9% to 2013.5 from 2210.5 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.1% to 352.7 from 352.5 one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index increased 0.8% while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) decreased 2.2%. On an unadjusted basis, the Conventional Purchase Index increased 0.1% to 517.7 from 517.0 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 1% to 636.2 from 629.6. The four week moving average is up 0.9% to 366.2 from 363.1 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 1.2% to 2230.0 from 2202.9 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 46.1% of total applications from 48.2% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 9.3 from 10.0% of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.96% from 5.90%, with points decreasing to 1.11 from 1.12 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.49% from 5.42%, with points increasing to 1.15 from 1.14 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.92% from 6.71%, with points increasing to 1.42 from 1.35 (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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Categories: Real Estate