by Calculated Risk on 11/23/2005 11:04:00 AM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports: Mortgage Refinance Applications Down 17.4 Percent Since Last Month

The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume – was 635.4, a decrease of 3.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 657.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 4.8 percent compared with the previous week, but was down 11.8 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 1.2 percent to 472.3 from 477.9 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 6.9 percent to 1584.1 from 1702.4 one week earlier. The Refinance Index is down 17.4 percent compared to four weeks ago when the index was 2144.5.

Click on graph for larger image.

The graph shows overall and purchase activity since June. Overall activity has fallen significantly due to the drop in refis. Purchase activity is steady.

As expected, mortgage rates declined last week:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.26 percent from 6.33 percent one week earlier...

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 5.41 percent from 5.46 percent one week earlier...