Mortgage Applications in U.S. Remain Flat in Late February

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According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 27, 2015, mortgage applications increased 0.1 percent from one week earlier.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 12 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index increased 1 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 0.2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 14 percent compared with the previous week and was 0.2 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted conventional Refinance Index increased 2.2 percent to the highest level since the week ending February 13, 2015.

The refinance share of mortgage activity remained unchanged at 62 percent of total applications from the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5.4 percent of total applications.

The FHA share of total applications decreased to 14.6 percent this week from 15.3 percent last week. The VA share of total applications increased to 9.8 percent this week from 9.6 percent last week. The USDA share of total applications decreased to 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) decreased to 3.96 percent from 3.99 percent, with points decreasing to 0.30 from 0.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) decreased to 3.95 percent from 4.09 percent, with points increasing to 0.27 from 0.21 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 3.76 percent from 3.82 percent, with points increasing to 0.21 from 0.15 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.27 percent from 3.28 percent, with points remaining unchanged at 0.30 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate remained unchanged from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 3.05 percent from 3.28 percent, with points increasing to 0.50 from 0.31 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.