Mortgage Applications Decrease 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 24, 2009.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 960.6, a decrease of 18.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 1172.2 one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 17.4 percent compared with the previous week and increased 62.7 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
 
The Refinance Index decreased 21.9 percent to 5108.2 from 6540.7 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 0.6 percent to 251.6 from 253.0 one week earlier.  The Conventional Purchase Index decreased 1.4 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) increased 0.8 percent.
 
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 4.9 percent.  The four week moving average is down 1.5 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 5.7 percent for the Refinance Index.
 
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 75.3 percent of total applications from 79.7 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 2.1 percent from 1.4 percent of total applications from the previous week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.62 percent from 4.73 percent, with points increasing to 1.14 from 1.12 (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 4.45 percent from 4.46 percent, with points decreasing to 0.96 from 1.18 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
 
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.23 percent from 6.19 percent, with points decreasing to 0.12 from 0.14 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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