by Calculated Risk on 9/20/2006 02:03:00 AM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports: Refinance Applications Rise in Latest Survey

Click on graph for larger image.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 595.8, an increase of 2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 584.2 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 12.3 percent compared with the previous week and was down 22.5 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. The previous week was shortened due to the Labor Day holiday.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 3 percent to 397.9 from 410.2 the previous week and the Refinance Index increased by 9.5 percent to 1748.7 from 1597 one week earlier.

Mortgage rates were mixed:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.36 percent from 6.32 percent ...

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 5.95 percent from 5.96 percent ...

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

Percent Change in Number of Applications
Applications	Change from one year ago
Total	-22.5%
Purchase	-19.8%
Refi	-25.7%
Fixed Rate	-19.4%
ARM	-29.8%

Purchase activity is off 19.8% from the comparable week last year.

This graph shows the Purchase Index and the 4 and 12 week moving averages.
Note: Scale does not start at zero to better show changes.

Average year-to-date purchase activity is 13.6% below 2005, and has been running more than 20% below 2005 for the last couple of months.