by Calculated Risk on 2/22/2006 10:33:00 AM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that mortgage applications increased slightly for the week ending Feb 17th.

Click on graph for larger image.

The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume – was 578.5, an increase of 0.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 574.1 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 3.4 percent compared with the previous week but was down 20 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 4.3 percent to 408.7 from 391.7 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 4.0 percent to 1571.4 from 1636.7 one week earlier.

Mortgage rates were steady:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.22 percent from 6.25 percent ...

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.60 percent from 5.52 percent...

Activity is still fairly high though off from the peaks of 2005. The unadjusted Purchase Index is 436.5, off slightly from 448.0 for the same week last year.