Mortgage Rates Increase, Application Volume Steady in Latest MBA Survey

June 21, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 16 showed that the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 567.6, a decrease of 0.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 571.9 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1.6 percent compared with the previous week and was down 26.8 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. 

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 0.1 percent to 414.8 from 414.6 the previous week and the Refinance Index decreased by 2.2 percent to 1466.1 from 1499.4 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which decreased 1.1 percent to 836.0 from 845.3 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased 3.4 percent to 120.0 from 116.0 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is up 0.7 percent to 554.0 from 550.2. The four week moving average is up 1.1 percent to 405.1 from 400.5 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 0.3 percent to 1432.6 from 1436.2 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 35.5 percent of total applications from 35.7 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 29.6 percent of total applications from 30.7 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.73 percent from 6.61 percent, with points increasing to 1.14 from 1.13 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. This is the highest reported 30-year average rate since May 10, 2002.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.37 percent from 6.27 percent, with points decreasing to 1.10 from 1.13 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. This is the highest that the 15-year rate has been since April 2002. 

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.22 percent from 6.09 percent, with points increasing to 0.86 from 0.82 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. 

Source: MBA


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