Mortgage Applications Increase 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 March 6, 2009.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 723.4, an increase of 11.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 649.7 one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 11.6 percent compared with the previous week and 5.7 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
 
The Refinance Index increased 13.3 percent to 3470.7 from 3063.4 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 7.1 percent to 253.3 from 236.4 one week earlier.  The Conventional Purchase Index increased 5.4 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) increased 10.4 percent.
 
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 4.3 percent.  The four week moving average is up 1.8 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 5.4 percent for the Refinance Index.
 
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 67.9 percent of total applications from 66.9 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity was unchanged at 2.3 percent of total applications from the previous week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.96 percent from 5.14 percent, with points increasing to 1.16 from 1.05 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. This contract rate is the second lowest in the history of the survey, with the record low being 4.89 percent for the week ending January 9, 2009.
 
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.54 percent from 4.73 percent, with points increasing to 1.2 from 1.13 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
 
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.21 percent from 6.13 percent, with points decreasing to 0.16 from 0.18 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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