Remarks by HUD Secretary Preston on FHASecure expansion and pending congresssional legislation

Mortgage applications increase in latest MBA weekly surveyMortgagePress.comMBA, mortgage applications, Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, Market Composite Index, Refinance Index, Conventional Purchase Index The Mortgage Bankers Association has released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 27, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 477.7, an increase of 3.6 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from 461.3 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 3.2 percent compared with the previous week and was down 22.8 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. The Refinance Index increased 4.7 percent to 1269.2 from 1212.2 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2.8 percent to 342.8 from 333.4 one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index increased 2.6 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) increased 3.4 percent. The four-week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 1.2 percent to 501.1 from 507.3. The four week moving average is up 0.7 percent to 353.2 from 350.8 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 4 percent to 1370.5 from 1427.2 for the Refinance Index. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 36.8 percent of total applications from 36.3 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged from last week at 8.5 percent of total applications. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.33 percent from 6.39 percent, with points decreasing to 1.09 from 1.12 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.9 percent from 5.95 percent, with points decreasing to 1.02 from 1.16 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 7.14 percent from 7.09 percent, with points decreasing to 0.31 from 1.59 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. 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. For more information, visit www.mortgagebankers.org.