RISMEDIA, March 21, 2011—Mortgage applications decreased 0.7% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 11, 2011.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 0.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 0.5% compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 0.9% from the previous week and is the highest Refinance Index recorded in the survey since December 2010. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4.0% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 3.2% compared with the previous week and was 15.5% lower than the same week one year ago.
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 4.9%. The four week moving average is up 1.6% for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 6.6% for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 66.4% of total applications from 65.5% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 5.6% from 6.0% of total applications from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.79% from 4.93%, with points increasing to 1.07 from 0.87 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. This is the lowest contract 30-year rate observed in the survey since the week ending January 14, 2011. The effective rate also decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.03% from 4.17%, with points decreasing to 0.85 from 1.15 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. This is the lowest contract 15-year interest rate observed in the survey since the week ending December 3, 2010. The effective rate also decreased from last week.
For more information, visit www.mortgagebankers.org.
