Mortgage Applications Increase by 7 Percent in Latest MBA Survey

June 14, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Findings of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 9 revealed that the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 571.9, an increase of 7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 534.4 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 17.9 percent compared with the previous week but was down 34.3 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 4.8 percent to 414.6 from 395.6 the previous week and the Refinance Index increased by 10.6 percent to 1499.4 from 1356.0 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which increased 7.3 percent to 845.3 from 788.1 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased 4.0 percent to 116.0 from 111.5 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 0.7 percent to 550.2 from 554.2. The four week moving average is down 0.7 percent to 400.5 from 403.6 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 0.8 percent to 1436.2 from 1448.1 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 35.7 percent of total applications from 34.2 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 30.7 percent of total applications from 29.4 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.61 percent from 6.60 percent, with points decreasing to 1.13 from 1.19 (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 6.27 percent from 6.23 percent, with points decreasing to 1.13 from 1.16 (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 6.09 percent from 6.05 percent, with points decreasing to 0.82 from 0.86 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: MBA


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