Mortgage Applications Increase Late July

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According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey  for the week ending July 30, the Market Composite Index increased 1.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 1.4 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index increased 1.3 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1.5 percent from one week earlier. This third straight weekly increase in the Purchase Index was driven by government purchase applications which increased 3.4 percent from last week, while conventional purchase applications were essentially flat.  The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1.5 percent compared with the previous week, was up 7.1 percent relative to four weeks ago, but was 33.7 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 0.3 percent.  The four week moving average is up 0.9 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 0.2 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity remained flat at 78.0 percent of total applications from the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 5.4 percent from 5.7 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.60 percent from 4.69 percent, with points increasing to 0.93 from 0.88 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.  The effective rate also decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.03 percent from 4.12 percent, with points increasing to 1.01 from 0.83 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. This is the lowest 15-year contract rate ever recorded in the survey.  The effective rate also decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 7.10 percent from 7.15 percent, with points decreasing to 0.21 from 0.23 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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