May 25, 2011(Chris Moore)
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 20, 2011. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 1.1 percent as the previous weeks surge in refinance activity carried over for another week as borrowers continued to take advantage of some of this years lowest interest rates.
On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 0.9 percent compared with the previous week. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 5.2 percent.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1.5 percent from one week earlier. The four week moving average is up 1.2 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 0.8 percent compared with the previous week and was 3.1 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
The Refinance Index increased 0.9 percent from the previous week. The four week moving average is up 7.1 percent. The index is at its highest level since the second week of December.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 66.8 percent of total applications from 66.7 percent last week.
The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 5.8 percent from 6.3 percent the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.69 percent from 4.60 percent last week, with points decreasing to 0.69 from 0.93 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.78 percent from 3.75 percent last week, with points decreasing to 1.04 from 1.22 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
Tags: MBA, home purchase applications, mortgage rates, fixed rate mortgage, adjustable rate mortgage, refinance, interest rate
Sources:
MBA