Mortgage Loan Applications Down in Latest MBA Survey

April 10, 2002

Refinance & Purchase Indexes Decrease from Previous Week

WASHINGTON, D.C.(April 10) The market composite index of mortgage loan applications-a measure of loan purchases and refinances-for the week ending April 5 decreased 4.8 percent to 462.0 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 485.3 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 decreased 4.9 percent and was down 22.8 percent compared to the same week a year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased to 332.8 from 349.9 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index decreased to 1213.5 from 1272.3 the previous week. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which decreased to 612.5 from 636.1 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased to 211.0 from 233.5 the previous week.

Refinancing activity represented 36.0 percent of total applications, increasing slightly from 35.9 percent the previous week. The share of ARM activity increased to 15.6 percent from 15.2 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for30-year fixed rate mortgages was 6.96 percent, decreasing from 7.14 percent the previous week, with points increasing to 1.43 from 1.37 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 6.45 percent, decreasing from 6.62 percent the previous week, with points decreasing to 1.40 from 1.41 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 5.09 percent, decreasing from 5.24 percent the previous week, with points decreasing to 1.01 from 1.05 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association


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