Purchase, Refinance Applications Drop, Weekly Survey Says

MBA (6/25/2008 ) Kemp, Carolyn
Mortgage purchase and refinance application declined for the week ending June 20, based on the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 461.3, a decrease of 9.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 508.4 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 9.3 percent compared with the previous week and was down 25.3 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
The Refinance Index decreased 12.1 percent to 1212.2 from 1378.6 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 7.4 percent to 333.4 from 360.2 one week earlier.

The Conventional Purchase Index decreased 6.0 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) decreased 11.1 percent.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 6.1 percent to 507.3 from 540.3. The four week moving average is down 1.4 percent to 350.8 from 355.7 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 12.3 percent to 1427.2 from 1627.6 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 36.3 percent of total applications from 37.4 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 8.5 from 9.7 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.39 percent from 6.57 percent, with points increasing to 1.12 from 1.10 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.95 percent from 6.14 percent, with points increasing to 1.16 from 1.10 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 7.09 percent from 7.22 percent, with points increasing to 1.59 from 1.56 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

**SPECIAL NOTES**

The survey covers approximately 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.