Mortgage Loan Applications Down In Latest MBA Survey

January 3, 2002

Refinance Activity Decreases From Previous Week

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 3) - The market composite index of mortgage loan applications-a measure of loan purchases and refinances-for the week ending December 28 decreased 39.9 percent to 329.6 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 548.2 the previous week, according to the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBA), which was released today. On an unadjusted basis, the application index decreased 51.7 percent but was up 12.1 percent compared to the same week a year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased to 220.6 from 373.5 the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased to 963.5 from 1564.4 the previous week. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which decreased to 428.4 from 750.4 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased to 164.5 from 211.1 the previous week.

Refinancing activity represented 50.2 percent of total applications, increasing from 49.2 percent the previous week. The share of ARM activity increased slightly to 13.5 percent from 13.2 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for30-year fixed rate mortgages was 7.12 percent, decreasing slightly from 7.13 the previous week, with points increasing to 1.37 from 1.31 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for15-year fixed rate mortgages was 6.52 percent, decreasing from 6.62 the previous week, with points increasing to 1.43 from 1.13 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for1-year ARMs was 4.95 percent, decreasing from 5.38 the previous week, with points increasing to 1.41 from 1.11 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association


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