Refinance Apps Jump, Mortgage Rates Decline

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Refinance Apps Jump, Mortgage Rates Decline
Washington, D.C., March 7, 2007--The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 2, 2007.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 671.6, an increase of 7.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 626.1 one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 19.9 percent compared with the previous week and was up 15.6 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
The Refinance Index increased 15 percent to 2234.2 from 1943.5 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent to 405.3 from 401.3 one week earlier. The seasonally adjusted Conventional Index increased 7.7 percent to 1000.4 from 928.9 the previous week, and the seasonally adjusted Government Index increased 1.8 percent to 123.5 from 121.3 the previous week.
 
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 1.7 percent to 636 from 625.6.  The four week moving average is up slightly to 397.2 from 397 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 3.7 percent to 2032.6 from 1959.9 for the Refinance Index.
 
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 46.1 percent of total applications from 43.2 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 21.4 from 21.1 percent of total applications from the previous week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.04 percent from 6.16 percent, with points increasing to 1.27 from 1.05 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. This is the lowest rate since December 08, 2006.
 
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.73 from 5.84 percent, with points increasing to 1.24 from 1.19 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. This is the lowest rate since December 1, 2006.
 
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 5.79 from 5.92 percent, with points increasing to 0.8 from 0.77 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.