Lower Rates Spur Mortgage Applications in Latest MBA 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 September 4, 2009.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 17.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 15.8 percent compared with the previous week and 64.5 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
 
The Refinance Index increased 22.5 percent from the previous week, the biggest jump since mid-March.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 9.5 percent from one week earlier.  This was the largest gain since early April, putting the index at the highest level since the first week of January.
 
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 7.0 percent.  The four week moving average is up 3.3 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 9.7 percent for the Refinance Index.
 
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 59.8 percent of total applications from 56.5 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5.8 percent from 5.6 percent of total applications from the previous week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.02 percent from 5.15 percent, with points increasing to 1.23 from 1.09 (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 4.57 percent, with points increasing to 1.13 from 0.85 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
 
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.69 percent from 6.71 percent, with points decreasing to 0.19 from 0.20 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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