The Market Composite Index, an overall measure of mortgage applications, fell to 685.1 on a seasonally adjusted basis during the holiday-shortened week ended Nov. 28 from 775.6 the week before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.On an unadjusted basis, applications dropped 39.9% on the week and were down 29.7% from the level of a year earlier. The Purchase Index fell from 459.9 to 441.8 on a seasonally adjusted basis, while the Refinance Index plunged from 2612.2 to 2100.0. Refinancings represented 50.0% of total applications, down from 53.3% the previous week, while adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 26.6%. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose from 5.73% to 5.93%, and points (including the origination fee) were unchanged, at 1.45, for loans with 80% loan-to-value ratios, the MBA reported. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.
