Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

RISMEDIA, Sept. 11, 2008-The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 5, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 496.2, an increase of 9.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis from 453.1 one week earlier. This week’s results include an adjustment to account for the Labor Day Holiday. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 13.6% compared with the previous week and was down 24.4% compared with the same Labor Day week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index, also adjusted for the holiday, increased 15.4% to 1222.9 from the previous week. Without the holiday adjustment, the Refinance Index dropped 7.7%% from the previous week.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 6.4% to 371.5 from one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index increased 14.4% while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) decreased 8.7%.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 4.1%. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Purchase index is up 4.4%, while this average is up 3.5% for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 36.3% of total applications from 34.0% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 6.4 from 6.6% of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.06% from 6.39%, with points increasing to 1.02 from 1.00 (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 5.73% from 5.96%, with points decreasing to 0.98 from 1.03 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 7.00% from 7.11%, with points decreasing to 0.30 from 0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

For more information, visit www.mortgagebankers.org.