Apps slide in latest MBA Weekly Survey

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Oct. 16, 2009. This week's results include an adjustment to account for the Columbus Day holiday. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 13.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 22.4 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index, also adjusted for the holiday, decreased 16.8 percent from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 7.6 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 16.7 percent compared with the previous week and was 3.4 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 1.0 percent. The four week moving average is down 1.7 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 0.6 percent for the Refinance Index. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 65.0 percent of total applications from 67.4 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.4 percent from 6.2 percent of total applications from the previous week. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.07 percent from 5.02 percent, with points increasing to 1.13 from 1.11 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.51 percent from 4.44 percent, with points decreasing to 0.96 from 1.04 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.86 percent from 6.71 percent, with points decreasing to 0.31 from 0.32 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. For more information, visit MortgageBankers.org.