Home Purchase Applications Drop In Latest Survey

November 2, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 28. The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume – was 646.7, a decrease of 4.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 679.1, one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 5.2 percent compared with the previous week but was down 15.2 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 6.2 percent to 437.6 from 466.4 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 2.8 percent to 1862.8 from 1916.8 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which decreased 4.9 percent to 965.1 from 1014.3 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased 4.1 percent to 115.2 from 120.1 the previous week.

“The seasonally adjusted purchase index is down 7.6 percent since last month. This decline is consistent with our expectations of a softening from the record level of new home sales during the first three quarters of 2005,” said Doug Duncan, Chief Economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 2.4 percent to 689.5 from 706.2. The four week moving average is down 1.9 percent to 469.4 from 478.4 for the Purchase Index while this average is down 3.0 percent to 1970.1 from 2031.2 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 43.6 percent of total applications from 42.5 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 29.4 percent of total applications from 29.5 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.21 percent from 6.06 percent on week earlier, with points increasing to 1.27 from 1.21 (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 5.75 percent from 5.57 percent, with points decreasing to 1.27 from 1.30 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.39 percent from 5.37 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 0.99 from 1.00 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association


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