Mortgage Loan Applications Up in Latest MBA Survey

April 17, 2002

Refinance Index Increase Slightly from Previous Week

WASHINGTON, D.C.(April 17) The market composite index of mortgage loan applications-a measure of loan purchases and refinances-for the week ending April 12 increased 1.9 percent to 470.6 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 462.0 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 increased 2.0 percent but was down 16.2 percent compared to the same week a year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased to 337.3 from 332.8 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index increased to 1246.1 from 1213.5 the previous week. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which increased to 628.5 from 612.5 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased to 207.2 from 211.0 the previous week.

Refinancing activity represented 36.2 percent of total applications, increasing slightly from 36.0 percent the previous week. The share of ARM activity increased to 16.4 percent from 15.6 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for30-year fixed rate mortgages was 6.92 percent, decreasing from 6.96 percent the previous week, with points decreasing to 1.34 from 1.43 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 6.36 percent, decreasing from 6.45 percent the previous week, with points decreasing to 1.37 from 1.40 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 5.06 percent, decreasing from 5.09 percent the previous week, with points increasing to 1.10 from 1.01 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association


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