| Title: | Mortgage Purchase Applications Steady in Latest Survey |
| Source: | MBA |
| Date: | 3/1/2006 |
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 1, 2006) — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February
24. The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume was 571.5 – a decrease of 1.2 percent on a
seasonally adjusted basis from 578.5 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 9.6 percent compared with
the previous week and was down 18.9 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. There was an adjustment included
in the seasonally adjusted indexes to account for the President’s Day holiday.
The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 1.9 percent to 400.8 from 408.7 the previous week, whereas the Refinance
Index increased by 0.1 percent to 1573.5 from 1571.4 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the
Conventional Index, which decreased 1.4 percent to 843.6 from 855.8 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased
1.5 percent to 117.9 from 116.2 the previous week.
The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 2.3 percent to 585.9 from 599.7. The four week
moving average is down 2.1 percent to 406.6 from 415.3 for the Purchase Index while this average is down 2.6 percent to 1633.2
from 1676.6 for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 38.1 percent of total applications from 38.2 percent the previous week.
The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 28.3 percent of total applications from 29.1 percent the
previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.18 percent from 6.22 percent, with points decreasing to 1.19 from 1.23 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.84 percent from 5.87 percent, with points increasing to 1.24 from 1.21 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.64 percent from 5.60 percent, with points decreasing to 0.99 from 0.97 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
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The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is the national association representing the real estate finance industry, an industry
that employs more than 370,000 people in virtually every community in the country. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the
association works to ensure the continued strength of the nation's residential and commercial real estate markets; to expand
homeownership and extend access to affordable housing to all Americans. MBA promotes fair and ethical lending practices and
fosters professional excellence among real estate finance employees through a wide range of educational programs and a variety
of publications. Its membership of over 2,400 companies includes all elements of real estate finance: mortgage companies,
mortgage brokers, commercial banks, thrifts, Wall Street conduits, life insurance companies and others in the mortgage lending
field. For additional information, visit MBA's Web site: www.mortgagebankers.org.