Mortgage Application Volumes in U.S. Increase 11.7% in Early January

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According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 4, 2013, mortgage applications increased 11.7 percent from one week earlier. The results include an adjustment to account for the New Year's Day holiday.
 
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 11.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 49 percent compared with the previous week.
 
The Refinance Index increased 12 percent from the previous week and is up less than 1 percent from two weeks ago, the week prior to the holidays.
 
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Indexincreased 10 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 49 percent compared with the previous week and as 8 percent lower than the same week one year ago.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index is down 2 percent from two weeks ago, the week prior to the holidays.
 
The refinance share of mortgage activity remained constant at 82 percent of total applications from the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity was unchanged at 3 percent of total applications. The HARP share of refinance applications decreased to 25 percent from 27 percent the prior week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,500 or less) increased to 3.61 percent from 3.52 percent, with points decreasing to 0.41 from 0.48 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.  The effective rate increased from last week. This rate is at its highest level since the first week of November 2012.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,500) increased to 3.78 percent from 3.75 percent, with points increasing to 0.38 from 0.30 (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 increased to 3.35 percent from 3.34 percent, with points increasing to 0.69 from 0.61 (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 2.88 percent from 2.86 percent, with points increasing to 0.39 from 0.27 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rateincreased from last week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 2.64 percent from 2.65 percent, with pointsdecreasing to 0.37 from 0.42 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate decreasedfrom last week.