WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 19, 2005) - The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 14. The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume – was 737.5, an increase of 6.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 694.8, one week earlier. This measure includes an adjustment to offset the effects of Columbus Day on application activity. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 4.4 percent compared with the previous week but was up 3.7 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. 

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 7.3 percent to 503.9 from 469.5 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index increased by 4.5 percent to 2095.7 from 2004.9 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which increased 6.0 percent to 1103.8 from 1040.9 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased 7.8 percent to 126.3 from 117.2 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 1.2 percent to 716.8 from 725.4. The four week moving average is up 0.2 percent to 482.6 from 481.7 for the Purchase Index while this average is down 3.0 percent to 2078.7 from 2143.2 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 42.8 percent of total applications from 43.5 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 29.3 percent of total applications from 29.5 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.09 percent from 5.98 percent on week earlier, with points increasing to 1.29 from 1.22 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages remained at 5.62 percent, with points increasing to 1.29 from 1.19 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.34 percent from 5.26 percent one week earlier, with points increasing to 1.00 from 0.96 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

**SPECIAL NOTES** 

The survey covers approximately 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage originations, and has been conducted weekly since 1990.  Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts.  Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.