Mortgage Loan Applications Up in Latest MBA Survey

April 24, 2002

Refinance Index Increase Slightly from Previous Week

WASHINGTON, D.C. The market composite index of mortgage loan applications-a measure of loan purchases and refinances-for the week ending April 19 increased 4.9 percent to 493.8 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 470.6 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 5.3 percent but was down 6.0 percent compared to the same week a year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased to 351.6 from 337.3 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index increased to 1320.6 from 1246.1 the previous week. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which increased to 661.8 from 628.5 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased to 213.4 from 207.2 the previous week.

Refinancing activity represented 36.5 percent of total applications, increasing slightly from 36.2 percent the previous week. The share of ARM activity decreased to 16.0 percent from 16.4 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages was 6.84 percent, decreasing from 6.92 percent the previous week, with points increasing to 1.54 from 1.34 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed rate mortgages was 6.30 percent, decreasing from 6.36 percent the previous week, with points increasing to 1.50 from 1.37 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 1-year ARMs was 4.91 percent, decreasing from 5.06 percent the previous week, with points decreasing to 1.04 from 1.10 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Asssociation


Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alta.org.