by Calculated Risk on 1/11/2006 12:14:00 PM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports: Mortgage Rates Down for Fifth Consecutive Week

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The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume was 600.1 -- an increase of 9.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 545.9 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 increased 27.2 percent compared with the previous week but was down 19.1 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 9.3 percent to 457.4 from 418.3 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index increased by 9.9 percent to 1497.5 from 1363.2 one week earlier.

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

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.08 percent from 6.15 percent on week earlier ...

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.42 percent from 5.41 percent one week earlier ...