Mortgage Applications Increase in U.S. as Rates Dip

---

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 18, mortgage applications increased 2.7 percent from one week earlier.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 2.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 2.8 percent compared with the previous week.  The Refinance Index increased 2.7 percent from the previous week.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2.7 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 3.0 percent compared with the previous week and was 15.3 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 2.5 percent.  The four week moving average is up 1.0 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 3.3 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity remained constant at 66.4 percent of total applications. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5.9 percent from 5.6 percent of total applications.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.80 percent from 4.79 percent, with points decreasing to 0.96 from 1.07 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.  The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.02 percent from 4.03 percent, with points increasing to 0.90 from 0.85 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

---