Applications Fall

Mortgage applications fell 4.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Jan. 17, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.On an unadjusted basis, applications were down 3.6% on the week and 55.5% from the level recorded a year earlier. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Purchase Index declined from 358.0 to 355.3, and the Refinance Index fell from 5786.4 to 5433.4. Refinancings represented 75.7% of total applications, down from 77.7% the previous week, while adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 13.8%. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased from 5.84% to 5.74%, and points (including the origination fee) increased from 1.42 to 1.57 for loans with 80% loan-to-value ratios, the MBA reported. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mbaa.org.