Mortgage Bankers Association Index: Upward Trend Halts

The upward climb of the Mortgage Bankers Association's Market Composite Index came to a halt the week ended Sept. 11, which was a shortened time period because of the Labor Day holiday. The MCI, calculated from the MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, decreased 8.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 18.3% compared with the previous week and decreased 18.7% compared with the same week one year earlier. MBA stopped disclosing index values with the July 31 data release. The Refinance Index decreased 7.4% from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 10.3% from one week earlier. Even though the Refinance Index declined, the share of refinancing applications increased to 61.0% of total applications, up from 59.8% the previous week. The share of adjustable-rate mortgage applications for the week was 6%, up from 5.8% one week prior. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.08% from 5.02%, with points declining to 0.98 from 1.23 (including the origination fee) for loans with an 80% percent loan-to-value ratio, the association reported. However, the other two rates tracked by the MBA survey went in the opposite direction as the average contract interest rate for 15-year FRMs decreased by 4 basis points to 4.41%, while for one-year adjustable rate loans, it decreased by 8 BP to 6.61%. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.