The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 17 found that the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 623.6, a decrease of 3.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 647.5 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 5.1 percent compared with the previous week and was down 0.1 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Refinance Index decreased by 4.3 percent to 1935.3 from 2022.2 the previous week and the Purchase Index decreased by 2.8 percent to 401.4 from 412.9 one week earlier. The seasonally-adjusted Conventional Index decreased by 3.8 percent to 924.7 from 961.1 the previous week, and the seasonally-adjusted Government Index decreased 2.4 percent to 121.5 from 124.5 the previous week. The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is up 1.4 percent to 615.7 from 606.8. The four week moving average is up 1.2 percent to 398 from 393.1 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 2 percent to 1891.2 from 1854.9 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 48.6 percent of total applications from 48 percent the previous week. The refinance share remained at its highest level since February 2005. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged from the previous week at 25.5 percent of total applications.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.13 percent from 6.15 percent, with points decreasing to 0.95 from 0.98 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The 30 year rate is at its lowest level since January 2006.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.88 percent from 5.85 percent, with points decreasing to 0.96 from 1.00 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.88 percent from 5.87, with points increasing to 0.8 from 0.78 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.