Mortgage Applications Decrease Slightly

Washington, DC, May 16, 2007--The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 11, 2007.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 675.5, a decrease of 0.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 680.7 one week earlier. 

On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 0.6 percent compared with the previous week and was up 13.8 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index increased slightly to 2115.5 from 2115.2 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 1.4 percent to 432.3 from 438.3 one week earlier. The seasonally adjusted Conventional Index decreased 0.5 percent to 997.6 from 1003.1 the previous week, and the seasonally adjusted Government Index decreased 3.2 percent to 138.6 from 143.2 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 1.7 percent to 666.7 from 655.4.  The four week moving average is up 2.1 percent to 427.2 from 418.3 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 1.3 percent to 2082 from 2055.2 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 42.1 percent of total applications from 41.8 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 17.4 from 18 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.13 percent from 6.1 percent, with points decreasing to 1.47 from 1.48 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.81 from 5.82 percent, with points increasing to 1.35 from 1.25 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 5.61 from 5.71 percent, with points increasing to 1.13 from 0.73 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.