Mortgage Application Activity Up On Continued Rate Drop

February 18, 2004

WASHINGTON, D.C.? The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 13. The Market Composite Index of mortgage loan applications-a measure of mortgage loan applications for purchases and refinancings-increased by 4.9 percent to 837.1 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 797.8 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased by 7.0 percent compared with last week and was down 22.3 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased by 2.9 percent to 413.9 from 402.2 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index increased by 6.4 percent to 3298.3 from 3099.1 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which increased 5.5 percent to 1203.4 from 1140.9 the previous week. The Government Index increased 0.2 percent to 225.7 from 225.2 the previous week.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 56.6 percent of total applications from 56.9 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 27.1 percent from 26.3 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.46 percent from 5.60 percent one week earlier , with points remaining at 1.40 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.78 percent from 4.88 percent one week earlier , with points increasing to 1.32 from 1.26 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 3.27 percent from 3.33 percent one week earlier , with points remaining at 1.00 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association


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