Weekly Refinance Market Share Reaches Highest Level Since Mid-May

The market share of refinance applications for the week ended Nov. 13 is at its highest level since mid-May, the Mortgage Bankers Association Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey found. Refis made up 72.9% of the applications submitted for the week, up from 71.5% for the previous week. MBA said this is the largest share of refi applications since May 15. However, the Market Composite Index, a measure of loan application volume, decreased 2.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 3.3% compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 1.4% from the previous week while seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4.7%. MBA said this is the sixth week in a row the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index has declined bringing it to its lowest level since November 1997.The share of adjustable-rate mortgage applications fell to 5.4% for the week, from 5.5% one week prior. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.83% from 4.9%, with points increasing to 1.17 from 1.03 (including the origination fee) for loans with an 80% loan-to-value ratio, the association reported. The average contract interest rate for 15-year FRMs declined by 1 basis point, to 4.32%. For the week of Nov. 6, 2009, there was no change in the rate. For one-year adjustable rate loans, rates decreased by 3 bps to 6.82%. The MBA stopped disclosing index values with the July 31 data release. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.