Mortgage Applications Take-Off as Borrowers Take Advantage of Low Rates

June 15, 2011(Chris Moore)

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 10, 2011. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 13.0 percent from the previous week as the year’s lowest interest rates pushed purchase applications and refinance applications higher.

On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 24.5 percent compared with the previous week. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 2.4 percent.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 4.5 percent from one week earlier. The four week moving average is up 0.3 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 14.2 percent compared with the previous week and was 6.1 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

“Mortgage rates have declined for 8 of the past 9 weeks. Coming off of the Memorial Day holiday, refinance application volume increased significantly, as borrowers jumped to lock in the lowest mortgage rates since last November,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics. “The volume of refinance applications still remains 28 percent below levels seen at that time, as borrowers with an incentive to refinance remain constrained from doing so by lack of equity in their homes.”

The Refinance Index increased 16.5 percent from the previous week. The four week moving average is up 3.1 percent.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 70.0 percent of total applications from 67.3 percent last week.

The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained at 6.1 percent from percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.51 percent from 4.54 percent last week, with points increasing to 1.05 from 0.95 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages remained unchanged from 3.78 percent last week, with points also remaining the same at 1.06 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

Tags: MBA, home purchase applications, mortgage rates, fixed rate mortgage, adjustable rate mortgage, refinance, interest rate

Sources:
MBA