U.S. Mortgage Applications Dip in Mid-February

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According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 20, 2015, mortgage applications decreased 3.5 percent from one week earlier. This week's results include an adjustment to account for the Presidents' Day holiday.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 3.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 12 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index decreased 8 percent from the previous week.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 5 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent compared with the previous week and was 2 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 62 percent of total applications from 66 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 5.2 percent of total applications.

The FHA share of total applications increased to 15.3 percent this week from 15.2 percent last week.  The VA share of total applications increased to 9.6 percent this week from 8.0 percent last week.  The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.9 percent this week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to 3.99 percent from 3.93 percent, with points decreasing to 0.33 from  0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) increased to 4.09 percent from 3.92 percent, with points decreasing to 0.21 from 0.28 (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 3.82 percent from 3.73 percent, with points increasing to 0.15 from 0.12 (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 3.28 percent from 3.24 percent, with points decreasing to 0.30 from 0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 3.28 percent from 3.09 percent, with points decreasing to 0.31 from 0.47 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.