Mortgage Applications Lose Momentum

July 27, 2011 (Chris Moore)

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 22, 2011. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 5.0 percent as both purchase applications and refinance applications lost momentum from the previous week.

On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 4.9 percent compared with the previous week. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 0.3 percent.

Purchase Applications:

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 3.8 percent from one week earlier. The four week moving average is down 0.5 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index.

The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 3.4 percent compared with the previous week, and is 2.2 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

Refinance Activity:

The Refinance Index decreased 5.5 percent from the previous week. The four week moving average is down 0.3 percent.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 69.6 percent of total applications from 70.1 percent last week.

Mortgage Interest Rates:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages increased to 4.57 percent from 4.54 percent last week, with points increasing to 1.14 from 0.98 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed rate mortgages increased to 3.67 percent from 3.66 percent last week, with points increasing to 1.08 from 0.97 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

ARMs:

The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.1 percent from 5.8 percent the previous week.


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

Sources:
MBA