by Calculated Risk on 12/21/2005 10:38:00 AM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports: Mortgage Application Volume Down In Latest Survey

The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume was 594.6 -- a decrease of 4.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 619.3 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 5.2 percent compared with the previous week and was down 15.2 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 5.2 percent to 453.1 from 477.9 the previous week, whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 1.6 percent to 1418.1 from 1441.8 one week earlier.

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.

Mortgage rates decreased slightly again last week:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.22 percent from 6.28 percent on week earlier ...

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.76 percent from 5.83 percent ...

Overall this report shows purchase activity might be weakening, but it is still at a very high level.