Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey – December 17, 2008

Mortgage Applications Survey At a Glance
Adjusted seasonally

• Market Composite Index: 841.4
• Change: Up 2.9%
• Purchase Index: 286.1
• Change: Down 4.5%
• Refinance Index: 4156.0
• Change: Up 6.5%
• 4-Week Moving Average: Up 17.9%
• 30-year Fixed Rate: 5.18% with 1.13 points

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Mortgage Applications Increase, Driven by Refinances in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 17, 2008) — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending December 12, 2008.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 841.4, an increase of 2.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 817.7 one week earlier, which was revised from 796.8.*  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 2.9 percent compared with the previous week and was up 37.3 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
The Refinance Index increased 6.5 percent to 4156.0 from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4.5 percent to 286.1 from one week earlier.  The Conventional Purchase Index decreased 6.7 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) was virtually unchanged.
 
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 17.9 percent.  The four week moving average is up 3.2 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 28.1 percent for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 76.9 percent of total applications from 74.3 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 1.1 percent of total applications from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.18 percent from 5.44 percent, with points decreasing to 1.13 from 1.24 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.93 percent from 5.08 percent, with points increasing to 1.34 from 1.26 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.63 percent from 6.76 percent, with points increasing to 0.3 from 0.26 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association