Mortgage Apps Up, Interest Rates Down Last Week

Washington, DC, August 8, 2007--Mortgage applications rose last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly survey. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 656.5, an increase of 8.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from 607.1 one week earlier. 

On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 7.7% compared with the previous week and was up 18% compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index increased 9.1%to 1881.1 from 1724.1 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 7.4% to 447.4 from 416.6 one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Purchase Index increased 6.8% to 486.9 from 455.7 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Conventional Index increased 8.0% to 958.5 from 887.2 the previous week, and the seasonally adjusted Government Index increased 9.3% to 152.9 from 139.9 the previous week.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 39.9% of total applications from 39.4% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 22.5 from 22.3% of total applications from the previous week.

The average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.41% from 6.50% with points decreasing to 1.62 from 1.66 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.16 from 6.20%, with points decreasing to 1.18 from 1.30 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 5.69 from 5.73%, with points decreasing to 1.09 from 1.12 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.