by Calculated Risk on 7/12/2006 10:21:00 AM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports: Mortgage Application Volume Steady

Click on graph for larger image.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 566.8, an increase of 1.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 561.0 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 29.1 percent compared with the previous week and was down 36.3 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 2.6 percent to 425.0 from 414.2 the previous week and the Refinance Index decreased by 1.6 percent to 1400.5 from 1423.9 one week earlier.

Mortgage rates increased slightly:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.81 percent from 6.80 percent ...

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.41 percent from 6.39 percent ...

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

Total	-36.3%
Purchase	-23.4%
Refi	-52.0%
Fixed-Rate	-37.0%
ARM	-34.5%

Purchase activity is off 23.4% compared to the same week last year. The MBA Purchase Index is indicating that the housing market is continuing to slow compared to 2005.