Mortgage Loan Applications Up in Latest MBA Survey

May 2, 2002

Refinance Index Increase 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 26 increased 9.2 percent to 539.3 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 493.8 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 9.4 percent but was down 6.5 percent compared to the same week a year earlier.

The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased to 368.4 from 351.6 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index increased to 1533.5 from 1320.6 the previous week. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which increased to 727.0 from 661.8 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased to 226.1 from 213.4 the previous week.

Refinancing activity represented 38.7 percent of total applications, increasing from 36.5 percent the previous week. The share of ARM activity decreased to 15.4 percent from 16.0 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for30-year fixed rate mortgages was 6.82 percent, decreasing from 6.84 percent the previous week, with points decreasing to 1.34 from 1.54 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 6.23 percent, decreasing from 6.30 percent the previous week, with points decreasing to 1.34 from 1.50 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 4.87 percent, decreasing from 4.91 percent the previous week, with points increasing slightly to 1.05 from 1.04 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association


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