MBA: App Numbers Plateau

Mortgage Bankers Association data on mortgage applications from the week ended Dec. 26 show the number of apps to be "little changed" from week to week."The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 1245.7, essentially unchanged, on a seasonally adjusted basis from 1245.4 one week earlier," the MBA said. The trade group noted that its adjustments included one that accounts for the fact that the week was shortened by the Christmas holiday. On an unadjusted basis, the index fell 40% from the previous week and 155% from a year earlier. However, the four-week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index was up 10.3%, and while this same seasonally adjusted average for the Purchase Index was down 3.2%, it was up 15.7% for the refinance index. On a week-to-week basis, purchases inched up by 1.4% and refinance volume inched down by 0.4%, with refinances representing 82.9% of the applications in the market, down slightly from 83.2% the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Conventional Purchase Index edged up by 1.1% from the previous week and the Government Purchase Index increased by 2.2% during the same period. Adjustable-rate mortgage activity remained unchanged from the previous week at 0.8% of total applications.