Mortgage Applications Increases 7.5% in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

RISMEDIA, July 10, 2008-The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 4, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 513.4, an increase of 7.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis from 477.7 one week earlier. This week’s results include an adjustment to account for the Independence Day holiday. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 14.1% compared with the previous week and was down 18.1% compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index increased 8.7% to 1379.3 from 1269.2 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 6.7% to 365.8 from 342.8 one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index increased 1.6% while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) increased 19.8%.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 2.3% to 489.7 from 501.1. The four week moving average is down 0.9% to 350.0 from 353.2 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 4.4% to 1309.8 from 1370.5 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 37.3% of total applications from 36.8% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 10.0% from 8.5% of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.43% from 6.33%, with points decreasing to 1.06 from 1.09 (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 5.94% from 5.90%, with points increasing from 1.02 to 1.10 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 7.24% from 7.14%, with points decreasing to 0.26 from 0.31 (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.