Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

 Print Article

RISMEDIA, Nov. 14, 2008-The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 7, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 425.0, an increase of 11.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis from 379.9 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 10.5% compared with the previous week and was down 40.0% compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index increased 16.1% to 1248.4 from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 9.0% to 284.4 from one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index increased 6.5% while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) increased 15.3%.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 3.7%. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index is down 2.5%, while this average is down 5.1% for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 45.1% of total applications from 42.9% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 2.3% from 2.5% of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.24% from 6.47%, with points decreasing to 1.17 from 1.19 (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 5.90% from 6.14%, with points decreasing to 1.12 from 1.22 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.18% from 6.86%, with points increasing to 0.43 from 0.42 (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.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Don’t miss other real estate headlines on RISMedia.com, see:

• Real Estate’s Bigger Subprime Problem  
  For Your Clients - Real Estate Misconceptions Debunked