by Calculated Risk on 4/05/2006 10:36:00 AM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports: Mortgage Application Volume Up While Refinance Share Drops (update: add Link)


Click on graph for larger image.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 612.8, an increase of 7.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 571.7 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 7.2 percent compared with the previous week but was down 4.6 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 8.4 percent to 438.2 from 404.1 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index increased by 5.3 percent to 1640.8 from 1558.4 one week earlier.

Mortgage rates increased:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.49 percent from 6.36 percent ...

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.96 percent from 5.83 percent ...

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

Total	-4.6%
Purchase	-1.9%
Refi	-8.8%
Fixed-Rate	5.4%
ARM	-22.8%

Purchase activity is off only 1.9% from last year. This is a rebound in activity from recent weakness.