Mortgage applications in the US sank last week to their lowest level since the end of last year despite falling borrowing costs, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the trade body for the US real estate finance industry.
The Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey published by the MBA – which covers approximately 50 percent of all US retail residential mortgage applications – for the week ending 21 December 2007 was down 7.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the applications index decreased 8.2 percent compared with the previous week and was up 9.9 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
The Refinance Index decreased 8.5 percent to 1915.3 from 2093.6 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 6.6 percent to 394.5 from 422.2 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Purchase Index decreased 7.8 percent to 292.3 from 317.1 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Conventional Index decreased 7.9 percent to 859.1 from 932.8 the previous week, and the seasonally adjusted Government Index decreased 5.5 percent to 178.3 from 188.7 the previous week.
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 1.5 percent to 715.3 from 725.9. The four week moving average is down 0.5 percent to 438.2 from 440.4 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 1.8 percent to 2412.5 from 2456.9 for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 53.0 percent of total applications from 53.2 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 10.4 from 9.9 percent of total applications from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.10 percent from 6.18 percent, with points decreasing to 1.05 from 1.12 (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 5.66 percent from 5.78 percent, with points decreasing to 1.09 from 1.10 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.03 percent from 6.48 percent.