Mortgage Application Volume Down 10.5 Percent in Latest MBA Survey

May 18, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) for the week ending May 13 found that the Market Composite Index - a measure of mortgage loan application volume - was 699.2, a decrease of 10.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 781.0 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 10.4 percent compared with last week but was up 6.7 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 10.8 percent to 469.3 from 526.2 the previous week whereas the seasonally adjusted Refinance Index decreased by 10.0 percent to 2036.7 from 2263.3 one week earlier. On a year-over-year basis the Purchase Index is up 3.4 percent overall while the Conventional Purchase Index is up 10.1 percent.

Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which decreased 10.6 percent to 1047.5 from 1171.1 the previous week. The Government Index decreased 9.2 percent to 118.1 from 130.1 the previous week.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 39.3 percent of total applications from 39.2 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 33.9 percent of total applications from 35.3 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.73 percent from 5.77 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.17 from 1.25 (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 5.28 percent from 5.34 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.22 from 1.26 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 4.11 percent from 4.20 percent one week earlier, with points increasing to 0.95 from 0.93 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: MBA


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