MBA: Mortgage Apps Decrease In Latest Survey

Washington, DC, March 21, 2007--The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 16, 2007.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 672.1, a decrease of 2.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 690.5 one week earlier.

On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 2.5 percent compared with the previous week and was up 18 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index decreased 4.5 percent to 2208.6 from 2312.2 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 0.9 percent to 410.6 from 414.3 one week earlier. The seasonally adjusted Conventional Index decreased 2.8 percent to 997.4 from 1026.3 the previous week, and the seasonally adjusted Government Index decreased 0.5 percent to 129.7 from 130.4 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 2.5 percent to 665.1 from 648.7.  The four week moving average is up 1.8 percent to 407.9 from 400.6 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 3.4 percent to 2174.6 from 2102.8 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 45.3 percent of total applications from 46.2 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 20.9 from 21.9 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.06 percent from 6.03 percent, with points decreasing to 1.3 from 1.38 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.79 from 5.78 percent, with points decreasing to 1.17 from 1.22 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.88 from 5.86 percent, with points decreasing to 0.73 from 0.76 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.