Mortgage Application Volume Down Slightly Led By Decrease In Purchase Applications

June 1, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. - According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 27, The Market Composite Index - a measure of mortgage loan application volume - was 709.1, a decrease of 2.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 729.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 3.4 percent compared with last week but was up 12.7 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 4.1 percent to 462.7 from 482.3 the previous week whereas the seasonally adjusted Refinance Index decreased by 1.2 percent to 2142.1 from 2167.9 one week earlier. On a year-over-year basis the Purchase Index is up 0.9 percent overall while the Conventional Purchase Index is up 4.9 percent.

Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which decreased 3.1 percent to 1065.0 from 1099.1 the previous week. The Government Index increased 1.8 percent to 115.0 from 113.0 the previous week.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 41.2 percent of total applications from 40.3 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 33.3 percent of total applications from 34.8 percent the previous week. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.61 percent from 5.63 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.07 from 1.27 (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 5.13 percent from 5.24 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.17 from 1.18 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 4.09 percent from 4.21 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 0.92 from 0.94 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association


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