Mortgage Applications Dip 1.9% This Week

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(WASHINGTON, DC) -- The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 12, 2010.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 1.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1.7 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index decreased 1.7 percent from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2.3 percent from one week earlier.  The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 1.8 percent compared with the previous week and was 13.9 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 0.8 percent.  The four week moving average is up 1.1 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 0.8 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 67.3 percent of total applications from 67.2 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 4.6 percent from 5.1 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.91 percent from 5.01 percent, with points increasing to 1.30 from 0.82 (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 mid-December of 2009, yet the effective rate was unchanged from last week due to the significant increase in points.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.24 percent from 4.32 percent, with points increasing to 1.47 from 0.88 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. This is the second time in the last three weeks that the contract 15-year fixed-rate has reached a record low in the survey.  However, the increase in points led to an increase in the effective rate from last week.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.75 percent from 6.80 percent, with points remaining unchanged at 0.30 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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