Refinance Activity Slows, Purchase Applications Steady 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 May 8, 2009.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 895.6, a decrease of 8.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 979.7 one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 8.1 percent compared with the previous week and increased 28.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
 
Refinancing demand has trended down from its mid-April peak, while purchase mortgage demand has increased modestly in recent weeks, even after accounting for normal seasonal increases this time of the year. The Refinance Index decreased 11.2 percent to 4588.6 from 5169.3 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.5 percent to 265.7 from 264.3 one week earlier. 
 
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 5.1 percent.  The four week moving average is up 0.2 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 6.5 percent for the Refinance Index.
 
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 71.9 percent of total applications from 74.4 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 2.3 percent from 2.1 percent of total applications from the previous week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.76 percent from 4.79 percent, with points increasing to 1.18 from 1.17 (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 4.50 percent from 4.57 percent, with points increasing to 1.08 from 1.07 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
 
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.41 percent from 6.36 percent, with points decreasing to 0.11 from 0.12 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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