RISMEDIA, October 21, 2010—The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 15, 2010. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 10.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index also decreased 10.5% compared with the previous week. This week’s results do not include an adjustment for the Columbus Day holiday.
The Refinance Index decreased 11.2% from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 6.7% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 6.6% compared with the previous week and was 29.4% lower than the same week one year ago.
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 0.4%. The four week moving average is down 1.1% for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 0.7% for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 82.4% of total applications from 83.1% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5.8% from 5.4% of total applications from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.34% from 4.21%, with points decreasing to 0.81 from 1.02 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. This is the first increase in the 30-year contract rate in six weeks. The effective rate also increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.74% from 3.62%, with points decreasing to 1.00 from 1.06 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. This is the first increase in the 15-year contract rate in six weeks. The effective rate also increased from last week.
For more information, visit www.mortgagebankers.org.
