December 1 2010 (Chris Moore)
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 26, 2010. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 16.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from last week. This week’s results include an adjustment for Thanksgiving Day.
On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 34.2 percent compared with the previous week. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 5.8 percent.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1.1 percent from one week earlier and is at its highest level since June 2010. The four week moving average is up 3.8 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 22.9 percent compared with the previous week, but was still 2.7 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
The Refinance Index decreased 21.6 percent from the previous week and is the lowest Refinance Index observed since the end of June. This is the third straight week that the Refinance Index has declined.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 74.9 percent of total applications from 78.6 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5.7 percent from 5.3 percent of total applications from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.55 percent from 4.50 percent, with points increasing to 0.96 from 0.87 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. This is the fourth time in the last five weeks that the average contract interest rate has increase and is at the highest level reported since August.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate increased to 3.91 percent from 3.83 percent last week, with points decreasing to 0.88 from 1.04 (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
