Mortgage Applications Decrease week ending July 25 2008

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 30, 2008 - The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 25, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 420.8, a decrease of 14.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 489.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 13.7 percent compared with the previous week and was down 30.3 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index decreased 22.9 percent to 1074.4 from 1392.7 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 7.8 percent to 309.5 from 335.6 one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index decreased 7.1 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) decreased 9.5 percent.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 2.8 percent to 486.5 from 500.7. The four week moving average is down 2.4 percent to 342.6 from 351.0 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 3.5 percent to 1330.3 from 1379.0 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 35.2 percent of total applications from 39.4 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 7.3 percent from 8.5 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.46 percent from 6.59 percent, with points increasing to 1.16 from 1.05 (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 5.98 percent from 6.10 percent, with points increasing to 1.18 from 1.11 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 7.25 percent from 7.16 percent, with points increasing to 0.39 from 0.29 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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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. For additional information, visit MBA’s Web site: http://www.mortgagebankers.org/.