Mortgage Applications Rise 5.5% in Week

Washington, DC, November 14, 2007--The Mortgage Bankers Association said mortgage applications rose 5.5% from the previous week. Applications were up 21.8% compared with the same week last year.

The Refinance Index increased 6.4% from the previous week and the Purchase Index increased 4.8%.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 50.2% of total applications from 49.1% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 15.5 from 14.2% of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.19% from 6.16%, with points increasing to 1.16 from 1.08 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages remained unchanged at 5.77%, with points increasing to 1.13 from 1.10 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.98% from 5.94%, with points increasing to 0.93 from 0.90 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.