Mortgage Application Volume Falls on Refinancing

Washington, DC, Oct. 22, 2008--The volume of mortgage applications filed last week decreased a seasonally adjusted 16.6% compared with the week before, caused mainly by a sharp drop in refinancing activity, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported on Wednesday.

Volume was down 44% for the week ended Oct. 17 from the same week in 2007, the MBA said. Weekly application volume hasn't been lower since the week ended Dec. 29, 2000.
 
Applications to refinance existing mortgages were down 23.5% last week, compared with the week before. Home-purchase mortgage filings were down a seasonally adjusted 10.9% week to week, the data showed.

The four-week moving average for all mortgages was down 9.2%.

Refinancings made up 42.6% of all applications last week, down from 46.4% the previous week.

Rates on fixed-rate mortgages dropped last week, with 30-year mortgages averaging 6.28%, down from 6.47% the previous week, while 15-year mortgages averaged 6.05%, down from 6.17%.