by Calculated Risk on 1/04/2006 11:50:00 AM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports: ARM Applications Down in Latest Survey

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The Market Composite Index - a measure of mortgage loan application volume was 545.9 -- a decrease of 1.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 554.1 one week earlier. A holiday adjustment was included in the seasonally adjusted numbers to help account for the reduced application activity during the holiday week. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 20.8 percent compared with the previous week and was down 9.9 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 4.5 percent to 432.9 from 453.1 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 11.2 percent to 1259.1 from 1418.1 one week earlier.

Rates on fixed rate mortgages decreased, while rates for ARMs increased:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.15 percent from 6.21 percent on week earlier ...

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.41 percent from 5.36 percent one week earlier...

Activity is falling, but still reasonably strong. The YoY decline of 9.9% for the same week is concerning. These reports will be more informative after the holidays.