New mortgage applications for home purchases fell 4.4 percent in the week ending April 21, according to the weekly Mortgage Market Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Refinance applications also fell 2.4 percent. Interest rates declined for 30-year and 15-year Fixed Rate Mortgages (FRMs) and for 1-year Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs).
Average Rates:
30-year FRM: 6.53%, 1.2 points
15-year FRM: 6.18%, 1.11 points
1-year ARM: 5.96%, 0.82 points
Average rates are based on a 80% LTV loan. This means a loan amount no more than 80% of the property value as determined by the lower of the purchase price or appraised value. Typically this means a 20% down payment, though an 80% loan can also be achieved with a second mortgage carried by the seller or a third party lender for the difference between the actual down payment and 20%.
Title: Mortgage Application Volume Down in Latest Survey
Source: Mortgage Bankers Association
Date: 4/26/2006
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 26, 2006) — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 21. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 548.6, a decrease of 3.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 569.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 3.2 percent compared with the previous week and was down 22.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. There were no holiday adjustments made for the Easter holiday.
The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 4.4 percent to 389.4 from 407.4 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 2.4 percent to 1489.4 from 1526.1 one week earlier. The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index is at its lowest level since November 7, 2003. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which decreased 3.7 percent to 806.8 from 837.6 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased 3.7 percent to 118.1 from 122.6 the previous week.
The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 1.0 percent to 577.6 from 583.4. The four week moving average is down 0.9 percent to 413.2 from 416.9 for the Purchase Index while this average is down 1.1 percent to 1547.2 from 1564.4 for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 36.7 percent of total applications from 36.4 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 28.2 percent of total applications from 28.9 percent the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.53 percent from 6.56 percent, with points remaining at 1.10 (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 6.18 percent from 6.19 percent, with points decreasing to 1.11 from 1.22 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 5.96 percent from 6.00 percent, with points decreasing to 0.82 from 0.86 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
**SPECIAL NOTES**
The survey covers approximately 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage originations, 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.
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