Mortgage Application Volumes in U.S. Dip in Early February

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According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 8, 2013, mortgage applications decreased 6.4 percent from one week earlier.
 
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 6.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 5 percent compared with the previous week.
 
The Refinance Index decreased 6 percent from the previous week.
 
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 10 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 4 percent compared with the previous week and was 15 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
 
The refinance share of mortgage activity of total applications was unchanged at 78 percent from the previous week. The HARP share of refinance applications was unchanged from last week at 28 percent. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 4 percent of total applications.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,500 or less) increased to 3.75 percent, the highest rate since September 2012, from 3.73 percent, with points unchanged at 0.43 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The contract interest rate for 30-year fixed mortgages has increased for eight of the last nine weeks.    The effective rate increased from last week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,500) increased to 3.98 percent, the highest rate since September 2012, from 3.96 percent, with points decreasing to 0.36 from 0.38 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA remained unchanged at3.53 percent, with points increasing to 0.39 from 0.38 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.01 percent, the highest rate since September 2012, from 3.00 percent, with points decreasing to 0.28 from 0.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 2.66 percent from 2.72 percent, with points increasing to 0.31 from 0.30 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate decreased from last week.