Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Inman News

Overall mortgage applications increased 0.6 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey.

The MBA seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by 1 percent to 444.8 from 440.3 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted refinance index decreased by 0.1 percent to 1,648.8 from 1,651.1 one week earlier.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 36.8 percent of total applications from 37.1 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate-mortgage share of activity increased to 33.3 percent of total applications from 31.3 percent the previous week.

"The purchase market continues very strong, in line with the numbers we have seen for new-home and existing-homes sales," said Jay Brinkmann, MBA's vice president of Research and Economics. "In addition, while the number of purchase applications has increased by 4 percent over the last year, the dollar volume of applications has increased by more than 15 percent, driven by an average purchase loan size that has increased to $215,800 last week versus $194,900 one year ago."

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.97 percent from 5.96 percent one week earlier. Points including the origination fee remained at 1.32 for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.33 percent from 5.34 percent one week earlier. Points including the origination fee increased to 1.41 from 1.38 the previous week for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year adjustable-rate mortgages increased to 4.04 percent from 3.93 percent one week earlier. Points including the origination fee increased to 1.16 from 1.12 from the previous week for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio loans.

Washington, D.C.-based Mortgage Bankers Association is a national association representing the real estate finance industry.

Mortgage Rates News, Mortgage News, Financial News