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Mortgage Applications Fall Despite Increase In Purchase Applications

by devteam November 23rd, 2011 | Share

Thernvolume of mortgage applications declined 1.2 percent on a seasonally adjustedrnbasis during the week ended November 18 according to the Mortgage BankersrnAssociation’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.   ThernMarket Composite Index, a measure of application volume increased 8.6 percent</bon an unadjusted basis when compared to the previous week (which included thernVeterans Day holiday) and was 4.8 percent lower than the same week in 2010.</p

ThernRefinance Index decreased 4.0 percent from the previous week to its lowestrnlevel since mid-August while the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index rose 8.2rnpercent.  The unadjusted Purchase Indexrnincreased 15.2 percent week-over-week and 4.8 percent from one year earlier.</p

Thernfour-week moving averages for the indices were mixed; down 0.42 percent for thernseasonally adjusted Market Index, 1.39 percent for the Refinance Index, and uprn3.08 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index.</p

Applicationsrnfor refinancing constituted 75.9 percent of all applications, down from 77.3rnpercent during the week ended November 11 and the lowest share since Septemberrn9.  5.7 percent of applications were forrnadjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) compared to 6.1 percent the previousrnweek.  </p

Applicationsrnfor government related refinancing during the week increased to 13.0 percentrnfrom 11.8 percent and was the highest level of applications for governmentrnrefinancing since April.  Statistics forrnthe month of October also showed an increase in government refinancingrnapplications, representing 12.3 percent of all refinancing applications for thernmonth, the highest level since MBA started tracking this data in January.   The government share of purchase activityrnincreased 0.5 percent in October to 42.9 percent.</p

“Purchasernapplications increased last week, returning to levels from before the Veteran’srnDay holiday,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Researchrnand Economics. “However, purchase activity remains almost 5 percent belowrnlast year’s level. Overall, refinance activity dropped for the week, but therernwas an increase in refinance applications for government loan programs.”</p

 Activity wasrngreatest in the West South Central and East South Central regions wherernapplication volume was up 17.2 and 17.9 percent respectively.  Those two regions also had the greatest governmentrnrefinance activity in October with increases of 2.1 percent and 2.0 percentrnover September.   The government share ofrnpurchase activity was greatest in the East North Central and East South Centralrnregions (48.8 percent and 50.9 percent) while activity increased the most fromrnSeptember to October in the Mountain (+2.0 percent) and Pacific (+2.1 percent)rnregions.  </p

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

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Refinance Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</p

ChartManager.loadChart(‘refiappschart’, ‘RefiMtgAppChart’);

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Interest rates</awere relatively flat with the average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgagesrn(FRM) with conforming balances of 417,500 or less unchanged at 4.23 percentrnwhile points decreased from 0.52 to 0.46. rnThe effective rate decreased.  Thernaverage 15-year conforming FRM rate was up 4 basis points to 3.58 percent withrnpoints increasing to 0.53 from 0.47.  Therneffective rate increased. </p

Thirty-year FRMrnbacked by FHA had an average rate of 4.05 percent with 0.55 point compared torn4.03 percent with 0.59 point the previous week. rnThe effective rate increased. Loans with jumbo balances (over $417,500)rnincreased from 4.56 percent with 0.46 point to 4.59 percent with 0.40rnpoint.  The effective rate increased.</p

The averagerncontract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs dippedrnone basis point to 3.00 percent with pointsrnunchanged at 0.49. This is the lowest averagerncontract interest rate for the 5/1 ARM since September 23, 2011. The effective rate also decreased from last week. </p

All rates are for loansrnwith 80 percent loan-to-value ratios and all points quoted include originationrnfees.</p

MBA’s weekly surveyrncovers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications,rnand has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers,rncommercial banks and thrifts.  Base period and value for all indexes isrnMarch 16, 1990=100.

All Content Copyright © 2003 – 2009 Brown House Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.nReproduction in any form without permission of MortgageNewsDaily.com is prohibited.

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