Mortgage Refinance Applications Decrease Despite Decline in Rates

RISMEDIA, September 30, 2010—The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 24, 2010. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1.0% compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index decreased 1.6% from the previous week, which is the fourth straight weekly decrease. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2.4% from one week earlier. The increase in the Purchase Index was driven by a 4.5% increase in government purchase applications, while conventional purchase applications increased 0.8%. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1.5% compared with the previous week and was 32.4% lower than the same week one year ago.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 3.3%. The four week moving average is up 1.1% for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 4.2% for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 80.7% of total applications from 81.1% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.0% from 5.9% of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.38% from 4.44%, with points increasing to 1.01 from 0.81 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The 30-year contract rate is a new low for this survey. The previous low was 4.43% for the week ending August 27, 2010. The effective rate also decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.77% from 3.88%, with points increasing to 1.13 from 0.86 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The 15-year contract rate is the lowest recorded in the survey, while the previous low was observed last week. The effective rate also decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 7.04% from 6.96%, with points increasing to 0.22 from 0.21 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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