Mortgage Applications on the Rise, Says Mortgage Bankers Association

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 27, 2009, which was a shortened week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 2.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 29.3 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index increased 1.7 percent from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 4.1 percent from one week earlier.  These results include an adjustment to account for the Thanksgiving holiday.  The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 30.4 percent compared with the previous week and was 34.9 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 0.2 percent.  The four week moving average is down 2.0 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 1.5 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 72.1 percent of total applications from 71.7 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 4.8 percent from 5.3 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.79 percent from 4.82 percent, with points decreasing to 1.00 from 1.19 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. This is the lowest 30-year fixed-rate observed in the survey since the week ending May 15, 2009.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.27 percent from 4.32 percent, with points increasing to 1.33 from 1.05 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  This is the lowest 15-year fixed-rate ever recorded in the survey, with the previous low being 4.32 percent recorded the previous two weeks and in October 2009.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.56 percent from 6.66 percent, with points increasing to 0.34 from 0.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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