Mortgage Loan Applications Up in Latest MBA Survey

May 29, 2002

Refinance Index Increases from Previous Week

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 29) The market composite index of mortgage loan applications-a measure of mortgage loan applications for purchases and refinancings-for the week ending May 24 increased 2.8 percent to 516.9 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 502.9 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 increased 2.1 percent and was up 5.4 percent compared to the same week a year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased to 348.3 from 344.3 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index increased to 1497.5 from 1425.8 the previous week. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which increased to 705.3 from 681.5 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased to 202.6 from 205.0 the previous week.

Refinancing activity represented 39.5 percent of total applications, increasing from 38.4 percent the previous week. The share of ARM activity decreased to 17.0 percent from 17.5 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for30-year fixed rate mortgages was 6.70 percent, decreasing from 6.72 percent the previous week, with points increasing to 1.48 from 1.44 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 6.20 percent, remaining the same as the previous week, with points decreasing to 1.27 from 1.32 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 4.71 percent, decreasing from 4.79 percent the previous week, with points decreasing to 0.98 from 0.99 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association


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