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 May 1, 2009.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 979.7, an increase of 2.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 960.6 one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 2.4 percent compared with the previous week and 43.7 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
 
The Refinance Index increased 1.2 percent to 5169.3 from 5108.2 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 5.0 percent to 264.3 from 251.6 one week earlier.  The Conventional Purchase Index increased 5.5 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) increased 4.4 percent.
 
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 6.0 percent.  The four week moving average is down 3.1 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 6.7 percent for the Refinance Index.
 
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 74.4 percent of total applications from 75.3 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 2.1 percent of total applications from the previous week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.79 percent from 4.62 percent, with points increasing to 1.17 from 1.14 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.
 
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.57 percent from 4.45 percent, with points increasing to 1.07 from 0.96 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
 
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.36 percent from 6.23 percent; with points remaining unchanged at 0.12 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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