by Calculated Risk on 3/08/2006 10:00:00 AM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that mortgage application volume was steady for the week ending March 3rd.

Click on graph for larger image.

The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume was 575.6 – an increase of 0.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 571.5 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 12.9 percent compared with the previous week, but was down 17.8 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 0.4 percent to 399.0 from 400.8 the previous week, whereas the Refinance Index increased by 2.6 percent to 1614.4 from 1573.5 one week earlier.

Mortgage rates increased:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.31 percent from 6.18 percent ...

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.69 percent from 5.64 percent ...

Change in mortgage applications from one year ago (from Dow Jones):

Total	-17.8%
Purchase	-11.8%
Refi	-25.8%
Fixed-Rate	-14.6%
ARM	-25.0%

Purchase activity is still fairly high though off from the peaks of 2005. Mortgage rates are increasing again, and will be increase again this week with the Ten Year note yield rising to 4.7%.