Industry News

Mortgage applications dropped 9.8 percent for the week ending January 16, 2009 according to The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 1195.3, a decrease of 9.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 1324.8 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 10.3 percent compared with the previous week and increased 23.1 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index decreased 12.4 percent to 6491.8 from 7414.1 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2.5 percent to 303.1 from 295.8 one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index increased 2.8 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) increased 1.8 percent. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 1.0 percent. The four week moving average is down 1.0 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 1.0 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 83.3 percent of total applications from 85.3 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 1.5 percent from 1.1 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.24 percent from 4.89 percent, with points decreasing to 1.16 from 1.20 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.99 percent from 4.63 percent, with points increasing to 1.20 from 1.14 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs remained unchanged at 5.89 percent, with points decreasing to 0.07 from 0.11 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.