Mortgage Apps Drop by 16.6% in Week

The Mortgage Bankers Association's Market Composite Index registered a 16.6% seasonally adjusted drop in mortgage applications during the week ended Oct. 17. The MBA said that in addition to its usual adjustments for seasonal variations it adjusted the figure to account for the Columbus Day holiday. On an unadjusted basis the index was down 25% on the week and 44% year-to-year. The Refinance Index fell 23.5%, the seasonally adjusted Conventional Purchase Index declined 10.9%, and the Government Purchase Index, which is largely comprised of FHA loans, dropped 11.9%. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the four-week moving average for the composite index registered a decline of 9.2%, the same average for the purchase index was down 4.9% and this average showed a drop of 14.2% for the refi index. Forty-two percent of apps were refis during the most recent week, down from 46.4% the week earlier. Adjustable-rate mortgages made up just 2.7% of total apps, a slight increase from 2.6% the previous week. Changes in average contract interest rates for different common loan types were as follows: for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, a drop to 6.28% from 6.47% with points falling to 1.09 from 1.14; for 15-year FRMs, a decline to 6.05% from 6.17% with points sliding to 1.11 from 1.18; and for one-year ARMs, an increase to 6.97% from 6.67% with points falling to 0.40 from 0.43. All points include the origination fee and are for 80% loan-to-value mortgages.