Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

---

(News Source: Mortgage Bankers Association)

(WASHINGTON, DC) -- The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 11, 2009.  This week's results include an adjustment to account for the Labor Day holiday. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 8.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 18.3 percent compared with the previous week and decreased 18.7 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index, also adjusted for the holiday, decreased 7.4 percent from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 10.3 percent to from one week earlier.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 2.9 percent.  The four week moving average is down 0.4 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 5.2 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 61.0 percent of total applications from 59.8 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.0 percent from 5.8 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.08 percent from 5.02 percent, with points decreasing to 0.98 from 1.23 (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 4.41 percent from 4.45 percent, with points decreasing to 1.12 from 1.13 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.61 percent from 6.69 percent, with points increasing to 0.20 from 0.19 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

---