Mortgage applications increased 1.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 30, 2013.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 1.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 0.3 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 2 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 0.4 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 3 percent compared with the previous week and was 6 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 61 percent of total applications from 60 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 7 percent of total applications. The HARP share of refinance applications increased to 38 percent, from 35 percent the week before, and is the highest since MBA started tracking this measure in early 2012.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) decreased to 4.73 percent from 4.80 percent, with points decreasing to 0.33 from 0.41 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
