Mortgage Application Volume Slip in Latest MBA Survey

February 4, 2004

WASHINGTON, D.C. ? The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 30. The Market Composite Index of mortgage loan applications-a measure of mortgage loan applications for purchases and refinancings-decreased by 1.5 percent to 855.7 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 868.9 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased by 12.4 percent compared with last week and was down 25.9 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 1.7 percent to 444.0 from 451.6 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index decreased by 1.4 percent to 3250.6 from 3296.7 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which decreased 1.4 percent to 1219.7 from 1236.5 the previous week. The Government Index decreased 2.7 percent to 248.3 from 255.3 the previous week.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 57.0 percent of total applications from 58.5 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 27.2 percent from 26.3 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.63 percent from 5.58 percent one week earlier , with points decreasing to 1.42 from 1.47 the previous week (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 4.92 percent from 4.87 percent one week earlier , with points increasing to 1.38 from 1.30 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 3.39 percent from 3.41 percent one week earlier , with points remaining unchanged at 1.04 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association


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