Mortgage Loan Applications Up In Latest MBA Survey

February 13, 2002

Refinance Index Decreases From Previous Week

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 13) The market composite index of mortgage loan applications-a measure of loan purchases and refinances-for the week ending February 8 increased 2.5 percent to 581.7 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 567.3 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 5.4 percent but was down 7.0 percent compared to the same week a year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased to 314.7 from 340.9 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index increased to 2134.9 from 1884.2 the previous week. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which increased to 777.0 from 748.9 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased to 255.8 from 264.2 the previous week.

Refinancing activity represented 53.1 percent of total applications, increasing from 49.4 percent the previous week. The share of ARM activity increased slightly to 15.6 percent from 15.5 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for30-year fixed rate mortgages was 6.81 percent, decreasing from 6.85 percent the previous week, with points increasing to 1.36 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 6.29 percent, decreasing from 5.31 percent the previous week, with points decreasing slightly to 1.22 from 1.24 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 5.10 percent, decreasing from 5.18 percent the previous week, with points increasing slightly to 1.09 from 1.07 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association


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