Mortgage Applications Decline in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

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(News Source: Mortgage Bankers Association)

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 10, 2009.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 1113.2, a decrease of 11.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 1250.6 one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 10.9 percent compared with the previous week and increased 45.6 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
 
The Refinance Index decreased 10.9 percent to 6071.7 from 6813.5 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 11.3 percent to 264.1 from 297.7 one week earlier.  The Conventional Purchase Index decreased 13.5 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) decreased 7.7 percent.
 
The MBA does not provide a holiday adjustment for the Easter/Passover weekend, which may have contributed to this week's decrease in application volume.
 
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 5.3 percent.  The four week moving average is up 0.6 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 6.5 percent for the Refinance Index.
 
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 77.8 percent of total applications from 77.9 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 1.5 percent of total applications from the previous week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.70 percent from 4.73 percent, with points increasing to 1.23 from 1.03 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.
 
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.46 percent from 4.49 percent, with points increasing to 1.04 from 0.93 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
 
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.21 percent from 6.23 percent, with points increasing to 0.15 from 0.14 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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