Mortgage Application Volume Virtually Unchanged In Latest Survey

September 1, 2004

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 27. The Market Composite Index of mortgage loan applications - a measure of mortgage loan applications - was 642.7, a decrease of 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 646.3 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased by 1.9 percent compared with last week but was up 2.6 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 0.1 percent to 443.1 from 443.7 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index decreased by 1.1 percent to 1804.1 from 1824.9 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which decreased 0.3 percent to 950.2 from 953.5 the previous week. The Government Index decreased 3.1 percent to 129.6 from 133.8 the previous week.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 40.7 percent of total applications from 40.4 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 33.1 percent of total applications from 32.1 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.75 percent from 5.78 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.32 from 1.37 the previous week (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 5.11 percent from 5.13 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.31 from 1.38 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 3.79 percent from 3.90 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.07 from 1.12 from the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.


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