RISMEDIA, January 28, 2011—The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 21, 2011. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 12.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 12.0% compared with the previous week. The results do not include an adjustment for the Martin Luther King holiday.
The Refinance Index decreased 15.3% from the previous week and reached its lowest level since January 2010. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 8.7% from one week earlier. The Purchase Index is at its lowest level since October 2010. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 3.1% compared with the previous week and was 20.8% lower than the same week one year ago.
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 1.0%. The four week moving average is down 3.7% for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 0.1% for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 70.3% of total applications from 73.0% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5.2% from 5.0% of total applications from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.8% from 4.77%, with points decreasing to 1.19 from 1.20 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. This week’s increase in the rate followed three consecutive weekly decreases.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.12% from 4.16%, with points increasing to 1.26 from 0.90 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
For more information, visit www.mortgagebankers.org.
