Mortgage Applications Fall Off on Fewer Refis

Washington, DC, April 30, 2008 — Mortgage loan application volume fell 11.1 percent last week on substantially lower refinancing activity.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said the Refinance Index decreased 16.7 percent and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4.8. percent.  The Conventional Purchase Index decreased 5.2 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) decreased 3.7 percent.
 
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 45.7 percent of total applications from 49.2 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 5.9 from 6.6 percent of total applications..

The average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.01 percent from 6.04 percent, while the average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.53 percent from 5.60 percent.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.86 percent from 6.93 percent.