Mortgage Application Volume Up In Latest MBA Survey - ARM Applications Rise 9.8 Percent

May 17, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 12 found that the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 588.0, an increase of 4.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 562.1 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 4.8 percent compared with the previous week and was down 14.7 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. 

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 2.4 percent to 426.7 from 416.5 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index increased by 8.4 percent to 1546.8 from 1427.4 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which increased 4.9 percent to 869.7 from 828.8 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased 0.7 percent to 118.3 from 117.5 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is up 0.8 percent to 573.9 from 569.3. The four week moving average is up 1.2 percent to 416.5 from 411.7 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 0.3 percent to 1507.3 from 1502.1 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 35.0 percent of total applications from 33.8 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 29.9 percent of total applications from 28.5 percent the previous week. 

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.66 percent from 6.61 percent, with points increasing to 1.17 from 1.14 (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 6.26 percent from 6.20 percent, with points decreasing to 1.17 from 1.23 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. 

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.07 percent from 6.04 percent, with points increasing to 0.89 from 0.87 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. 

Source: MBA


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