MBA Survey Sees Volume Slipping

The Mortgage Bankers Association, Washington, reported in its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Aug. 5 that the Market Composite Index - a measure of mortgage loan application volume - was 745.0, a decrease of 0.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis from 752.1 one week earlier.On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1.3% compared with the previous week but was up 20.8% compared with the same week one year earlier. The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 0.9% to 498.8 from 494.5 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 3.3% to 2176.5 from 2250.3 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which decreased 0.7% to 1122.2 from 1130.1 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased 4.9% to 115.3 from 121.3 the previous week. The four-week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 1.5% to 763.1 from 774.9. However, the four-week moving average is up 0.5% to 491.8 from 489.3 for the Purchase Index while this average is down 3.9% to 2341.3 from 2435.8 for the Refinance Index. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 40.9% of total applications from 41.7% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity increased to 29.7% of total applications from 28.5% the previous week. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.91% from 5.83%, with points increasing to 1.24 from 1.16 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio loans. The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.49% from 5.41% one week earlier, with points increasing to 1.29 from 1.13 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 4.88% from 4.78% one week earlier, with points decreasing to 0.99 from 1.00 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.