March 23, 2011 (Chris Moore)
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 18, 2011. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 2.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from last week.
On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 2.8 percent compared with the previous week. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 2.5 percent.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2.7 percent from one week earlier. The four week moving average is up 1.0 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 3.0 percent compared with the previous week and was 15.3 percent lower than the same week one year ago.
The Refinance Index increased 2.7 percent from the previous week. The four week moving average is up 3.3 percent.
The refinance share of mortgage activity remained the same as last week at 66.4 percent of total applications.
The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5.9 percent from 5.6 percent of total applications from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.80 percent from 4.79 percent last week, with points decreasing to 0.96 from 1.07 (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 4.02 from 4.03 percent last week, with points increasing to 0.90 from 0.85 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
Tags: MBA, home purchase applications, mortgage rates, fixed rate mortgage, adjustable rate mortgage, refinance, interest rate