Mortgage Application Volume Held Steady During Holiday-Shortened Week

November 16, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 11 found that the Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume – was 657.6 a decrease of 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 661.3, one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 12.1 percent compared with the previous week and was down 13.7 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. The seasonally adjusted figures include an additional adjustment for Veteran’s Day.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 2.6 percent to 477.9 from 465.7 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 5.4 percent to 1702.4 from 1798.8 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which decreased 0.7 percent to 980.8 from 988.2 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased 2.2 percent to 118.1 from 115.6 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 2.9 percent to 661.2 from 681.2. The four week moving average is down 1.4 percent to 461.9 from 468.4 for the Purchase Index while this average is down 5.1 percent to 1820.2 from 1918.5 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 40.4 percent of total applications from 41.7 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 32.9 percent of total applications from 31.6 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.33 percent from 6.31 percent on week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.26 from 1.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.87 percent from 5.85 percent, with points decreasing to 1.24 from 1.36 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.46 percent from 5.45 percent one week earlier, with points increasing to 0.97 from 0.96 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: MBA


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