Mortgage Loan Applications Down In Latest MBA Survey

April 3, 2002

Purchase Index Increases From Previous Week

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 2) The market composite index of mortgage loan applications-a measure of loan purchases and refinances-for the week ending March 29 decreased 1.9 percent to 485.3 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 494.8 the previous week, according to the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBA), which was released today. On an unadjusted basis, the application index decreased 1.6 percent and was down 23.5 percent compared to the same week a year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased to 349.9 from 330.4 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index decreased to 1272.3 from 1450.6 the previous week. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which decreased to 636.1 from 660.5 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased to 233.5 from 218.1 the previous week.

Refinancing activity represented 35.9 percent of total applications, decreasing from 40.2 percent the previous week. The share of ARM activity decreased to 15.2 percent from 16.5 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for30-year fixed rate mortgages was 7.14 percent, remaining the same as the previous week, with points decreasing slightly to 1.37 from 1.39 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for15-year fixed rate mortgages was 6.62 percent, remaining the same as the previous week, with points increasing to 1.41 from 1.36 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for1-year ARMs was 5.24 percent, increasing slightly from 5.23 percent the previous week, with points decreasing to 1.05 from 1.10 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association


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