Mortgage Refinance Application Volume Down In Latest Survey
October 12, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 7 found that the Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume – was 694.8, a decrease of 2.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 713.5, one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 2.6 percent compared with the previous week but was up 5.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 0.9 percent to 469.5 from 473.8 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 4.9 percent to 2004.9 from 2107.4 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which decreased 2.6 percent to 1040.9 from 1068.9 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased 2.6 percent to 117.2 from 120.3 the previous week.
On a year-over-year basis both the seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index and Refinance Index are higher. The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index is 7.4 percent higher than the same time last year while the Refinance Index is up 2.9 percent.
The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 2.2 percent to 725.4 from 741.9. The four week moving average is down 2.2 percent to 481.7 from 492.7 for the Purchase Index while this average is down 2.2 percent to 2143.2 from 2191.6 for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 43.5 percent of total applications from 44.5 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 29.5 percent of total applications from 29.8 percent the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.98 percent from 5.94 percent on week earlier, with points increasing to 1.22 from 1.21 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages remained at 5.55 percent, with points increasing to 1.19 from 1.15 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.26 percent from 5.13 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 0.96 from 0.98 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
The difference between the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages and for one-year ARM’s decreased to 0.72 basis points. This is the lowest spread since March 9, 2001
Source: MBA
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