December 22 2010 (Chris Moore)

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending December 17, 2010. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 18.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from last week.

On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 20.0 percent compared with the previous week. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 9.8 percent.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2.5 percent from one week earlier. The four week moving average is down 1.2 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 4.9 percent compared with the previous week and was 8.4 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The Refinance Index decreased 24.6 percent from the previous week and is the lowest Refinance Index observed since the April 30, 2010. This is the sixth straight week that the Refinance Index has declined. The four week moving average is down 12.7 percent.

Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics said, “Refinance application volume dropped sharply this week as mortgage rates held near six month highs. Purchase applications fell for a second week, with the level of applications little changed over the past month, indicating that home sales are likely to remain relatively weak over the next few months.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 72.3 percent of total applications from 76.7 percent the previous week, the lowest share observed since June 2010. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.1 percent from 5.5 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.85 percent from 4.84 percent, with points decreasing to 0.96 from 1.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate increased to 4.22 percent from 4.21 percent last week, with points decreasing to 1.19 from 1.28 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

Tags: MBA, home purchase applications, mortgage rates, fixed rate mortgage, adjustable rate mortgage, refinance, interest rate