Mortgage Refinance Applications Increase, Purchase Applications at Nine Year Low, Says MBA

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 6, 2009.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 3.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 2.8 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index increased 11.3 percent from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 11.7 percent from one week earlier. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index is at its lowest level since December 2000. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 13.7 percent compared with the previous week and was 21.6 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 4.5 percent.  The four week moving average is down 6.6 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 3.4 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 71.5 percent of total applications from 66.1 percent the previous week. This refinance share is the highest share since May of this year, when the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate was around 4.7 percent, close to the historical low of the survey. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 5.5 percent from 6.1 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.90 percent from 4.97 percent, with points increasing to 1.03 from 1.01 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The contract rate is the lowest observed in the survey since the week ending May 15th, 2009, when it was 4.69 percent.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages remained unchanged at 4.33 percent, with points decreasing to 1.15 from 1.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.85 percent from 6.83 percent, with points decreasing to 0.29 from 0.31 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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