Mortgage Apps Take Five Percent Week Over Week Plunge

Mortgage applications decreased five percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 22, 2011. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased five percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 4.9 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 5.5 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 3.8 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 3.4 percent compared with the previous week and was 2.2 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The four-week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 0.3 percent. The four week moving average is down 0.5 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 0.3 percent for the Refinance Index. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 69.6 percent of total applications from 70.1 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.1 percent from 5.8 percent of total applications from the previous week. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.57 percent from 4.54 percent, with points increasing to 1.14 from 0.98 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate also increased from last week. The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.67 percent from 3.66 percent, with points increasing to 1.08 from 0.97 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate also increased from last week.