“The drop in mortgage rates reflected the Treasury’s announcement that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed under conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency,” said Orawin Velz, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic Forecasting. “Renewed financial concerns should keep long-term Treasury yields low and translate to lower mortgage rates in the near term despite some widening in mortgage spreads.  We expect to see meaningful increases in mortgage demand in coming weeks on both the purchase and refi sides.”

The Refinance Index increased 88.1 percent to 2300.0 from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2.4 percent to 380.4 from one week earlier.  The Conventional Purchase Index increased 5.3 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) decreased 4.5 percent.
 
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 13.5 percent.  The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index is up 4.9 percent, while this average is up 29.1 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 51.6 percent of total applications from 36.3 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 4.0 percent from 6.4 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.82 percent from 6.06 percent, with points increasing to 1.13 from 1.02 (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 5.54 percent from 5.73 percent, with points increasing to 1.12 from 0.98 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.95 percent from 7.00 percent, with points increasing to 0.34 from 0.30 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

**SPECIAL NOTES**

The survey covers approximately 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, 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.

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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 280,000 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.