Mortgage Applications Fall 4.5% Last Week, Rates Steady

The volume of mortgage applications forrnboth purchasing and refinancing fell last week according to the MortgagernBankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.  The MBA’s Market Composite Index whichrnmeasures that volume was down 4.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis andrn4.7 percent on an unadjusted basis for the week that ended August 10.</p

The Refinance Index dropped 5 percent fromrnthe week ended August 3 and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index lost 2rnpercent.  The Purchase Index was down 3rnpercent on an unadjusted basis from the previous week but MBA did not provide annualrninformation for purchase applications. rnRefinancing as a share of all application activity declined fractionallyrnbut remained at about 81 percent.</p

Purchase Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</b</p

The FHA-backedrn30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate decreased to 3.53 percent from 3.54 percent,<bwith points unchanged at 0.49.  The effective rate decreased from the previous week.</p

Hybridrn5/1 adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) rates averaged 2.73 percent with 0.36 pointrncompared to 2.72 percent with 0.40 point and the effective rate decreased.  ARMs of all types accounted for only 4 percentrnof applications during the week. </p

All rates are for 80 percent loan-to-value mortgages and pointsrninclude the origination fee.</p

MBA’s weekly survey is taken among mortgage bankers andrncommercial banks and thrifts and covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retailrnresidential mortgage applications. rnConducted weekly since 1990, its base period and value for its indices isrnMarch 16, 1990=100.</p

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