Mortgage Applications Decrease week ending January 2 2009

2009 January 7

January 7 2009 - The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 2, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 1143.8, a decrease of 8.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 1245.7 one week earlier. This week’s results included an adjustment to account for the shortened week due to the New Year’s Day holiday. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 8.9 percent compared with the previous week and was up 28.3 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index decreased 12.3 percent to 5904.5 from 6733.8 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 7.3 percent to 344.2 from 320.9 one week earlier. The seasonally adjusted Conventional Purchase Index increased 2.3 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) increased 19.2 percent.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 7.9 percent. The four week moving average is up 3.6 percent for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 9.3 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 79.8 percent of total applications from 82.9 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 0.9 percent from 0.8 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 5.03 percent, with points decreasing to 1.16 from 1.24 (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 4.67 percent from 4.79 percent, with points decreasing to 1.16 from 1.26 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 5.90 percent from 6.15 percent, with points decreasing to 0.31 from 0.44 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

**SPECIAL NOTES**
Please note that the survey results scheduled to be released on Wednesday, January 21, 2009, will be released at 7 a.m. on Thursday, January 22, 2009 instead due to Inauguration Day.

The survey covers approximately 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, 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.

Mortgage Bankers Association

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is the national association representing the real estate finance industry, an industry that employs more than 370,000 people in virtually every community in the country. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the association works to ensure the continued strength of the nation’s residential and commercial real estate markets; to expand homeownership and extend access to affordable housing to all Americans. MBA promotes fair and ethical lending practices and fosters professional excellence among real estate finance employees through a wide range of educational programs and a variety of publications. Its membership of over 2,400 companies includes all elements of real estate finance: mortgage companies, mortgage brokers, commercial banks, thrifts, Wall Street conduits, life insurance companies and others in the mortgage lending field.

http://www.mortgagebankers.org

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