The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey released today for the week ending August 25 found that the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 556.5, a decrease of 0.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 561.5 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 2.3 percent compared with the previous week and was down 22.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. 

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 1.6 percent to 375.9 from 382.2 the previous week and the Refinance Index increased slightly to 1609.2 from 1608.5 one week earlier. The Purchase Index is at its lowest level since November 2003. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which decreased by 0.8 percent to 826.7 from 833.5 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased 1.9 percent to 106 from 108 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is up 1.3 percent to 558.1 from 550.9. The four week moving average is down slightly to 383.2 from 383.3 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 3.1 percent to 1580.8 from 1532.8 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 41.5 percent of total applications from 40.6 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 26.8 percent of total applications from 26.4 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.39 percent from 6.38 percent, with points increasing to 1.03 from 0.98 (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 6.06 percent from 6.04 percent, with points decreasing to 1.06 from 1.12 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. 

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.97 percent from 5.91 percent, with points increasing to 0.91 from 0.82 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: MBA