The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Sept. 10, 2010. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 8.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. This week's results include an adjustment to account for the Labor Day holiday. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 27.4 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index decreased 10.8 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 0.4 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 21.9 percent compared with the previous week and was 39.7 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 0.8 percent. The four week moving average is up 2.0 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 1.4 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 80.5 percent of total applications from 81.9 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.2 percent from 6.1 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.47 percent from 4.50 percent, with points increasing to 1.08 from 0.96 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate is unchanged from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.96 percent from 4.00 percent, with points increasing to 1.03 from 0.87 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate is unchanged from last week.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.89 percent from seven percent, with points increasing to 0.23 from 0.21 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

For more information, visit www.mortgagebankers.org.