The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 4 found that the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 553.3, an increase of 4.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 527.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 4.3 percent compared with the previous week but was down 24.9 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 3.4 percent to 388.9 from 376.2 the previous week and the Refinance Index increased by 7.1 percent to 1518.1 from 1417.2 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which increased 5.6 percent to 821.2 from 777.5 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased 3.7 percent to 106.8 from 110.9 the previous week. The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 0.6 percent to 538.9 from 542.3. The four week moving average is down 2.3 percent to 388.2 from 397.2 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 2.1 percent to 1424.5 from 1395.1 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 38.0 percent of total applications from 37.0 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 27.6 percent of total applications from 27.8 percent the previous week. The ARM is at its lowest since March 2004.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.45 percent from 6.62 percent, with points increasing to 1.01 from 1.00 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.10 percent from 6.28 percent, with points increasing to 1.09 from 1.00 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 5.96 percent from 6.18 percent, with points decreasing to 0.80 from 0.81 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: MBA