Applications Fall

The Market Composite Index, an overall measure of mortgage applications, fell from 715.0 to 673.3 on a seasonally adjusted basis during the holiday-shortened Thanksgiving week ended Nov. 26, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.On an unadjusted basis, applications fell 36% on the week and were down 1.9% from the level of a year earlier. The Purchase Index fell from 463.3 to 460.3 on a seasonally adjusted basis, while the Refinance Index declined from 2179.3 to 1912.3. Refinancings represented 46.4% of total applications, down from 48.4% the previous week, while adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 32.3%, the MBA said. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose from 5.64% to 5.78%, and points (including the origination fee) fell from 1.36 to 1.25 for loans with 80% loan-to-value ratios, the MBA reported. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.