Applications Fall

Mortgage applications fell 3.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Nov. 8, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.On an unadjusted basis, applications were down 4.3% on the week and 6.4% from the level recorded a year earlier. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Purchase Index fell from 369.5 to 333.3, while the Refinance Index declined from 4875.1 to 4825.6. Refinancings represented 73.0% of total applications, up from 70.6% the previous week, while adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 13.3%. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages plunged from 6.03% to a survey-record low of 5.74%, and points (including the origination fee) increased from 1.40 to 1.52 for loans with 80% loan-to-value ratios, the MBA reported. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mbaa.org.