Mortgage Applications Decreased In Latest MBA Weekly Survey

RISMEDIA, June 26, 2008-The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 20, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 461.3, a decrease of 9.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from 508.4 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 9.3% compared with the previous week and was down 25.3% compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index decreased 12.1% to 1212.2 from 1378.6 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 7.4% to 333.4 from 360.2 one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index decreased 6.0% while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) decreased 11.1%.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 6.1% to 507.3 from 540.3. The four week moving average is down 1.4% to 350.8 from 355.7 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 12.3% to 1427.2 from 1627.6 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 36.3% of total applications from 37.4% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 8.5 from 9.7% of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.39% from 6.57%, with points increasing to 1.12 from 1.10 (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 5.95% from 6.14%, with points increasing to 1.16 from 1.10 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 7.09% from 7.22%, with points increasing to 1.59 from 1.56 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

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