May 4, 2011(Chris Moore)
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 29, 2011. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 4.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from last week, primarily due to an increase in refinance activity as mortgage rates dropped for the third week in a row. Purchase applications remained relatively flat.
On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 4.1 percent compared with the previous week. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 0.9 percent.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.3 percent from one week earlier. The four week moving average is down 2.4 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1.1 percent compared with the previous week and was 36.9 percent lower than the same week one year ago.
The Refinance Index increased 6.0 percent from the previous week. The four week moving average is down 3.2 percent.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 62.7 percent of total applications from 61.6 percent last week.
The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.7 percent from 6.5 percent the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.76 percent from 4.80 percent last week, with points decreasing to 0.76 from 1.01 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.96percent from 4.03 percent last week, with points decreasing to 0.82 from 10.96 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
Tags: MBA, home purchase applications, mortgage rates, fixed rate mortgage, adjustable rate mortgage, refinance, interest rate
Sources:
MBA