by Calculated Risk on 8/11/2010 07:35:00 AM

The MBA reports: Mortgage Applications Essentially Unchanged Despite Lowest Rates

The Refinance Index increased 0.6 percent from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.3 percent from one week earlier.
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The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.57 percent from 4.60 percent, with points decreasing to 0.89 from 0.93 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. This was the lowest 30-year contract rate ever recorded in the survey.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the MBA Purchase Index and four week moving average since 1990.

The purchase index has increased slightly for four straight weeks - but is still 40% below the level of the last week of April (and about 32% below the last week of April using the 4-week average).

This recent collapse in the purchase index has already shown up as a decline in new home sales (counted when the contract is signed), and will show up in the July and August existing home sales reports (counted at close of escrow).

Note: Mortgage rates will probably fall to another record low this week too.