The home purchase application component of the Mortgage Bankers Association's Market Composite Index reached its lowest point since December 1996 during the week ended July 9.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 3.1% from one week earlier, while the unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 12.7% compared with the previous week and was 43% lower than Independence Day week one year ago.
The MCI decreased 2.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier; the calculation includes an adjustment to account for the Independence Day holiday.
On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 12.6% compared with the previous week.
The Refinance Index decreased 2.9% during the time span. Even so, the refinance share of mortgage activity remained high at 78.7%, the same as the prior week.
The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity increased to 5.5% from 5.4%.
The average contract interest rate for the 30-year fixed rate mortgage increased by a single basis point to 4.69% from 4.68% for the preceding week with points increasing to 0.96 from 0.86 (including the origination fee) for loans with an 80% percent loan-to-value ratio, according to the association.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year FRMs also rose by a single basis point during the week to 4.12%.
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs was unchanged at 7.20%.
