EconoIndicators

Mortgage Applications Survey At a Glance

• Market Composite Index: 641.1
• Change: Down 5.5%
• Purchase Index: 467.5
• Change: Down 6.6
• Refinance Index: 1806.3
• Change: Down 6.4%
• 4-Week Moving Average: Up 1.3%
• 30-year Fixed Rate: 6.49% with 1.48 points

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Mortgage Applications Decrease In Latest MBA Weekly Survey

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 22, 2007) — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 17, 2007. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 641.1, a decrease of 5.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 678.7 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 6.5 percent compared with the previous week and was up 14.2 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index decreased 6.4 percent to 1806.3 from 1929.6 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 5.0 percent to 441.5 from 464.9 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Purchase Index decreased 6.6 percent to 467.5 from 500.4 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Conventional Index decreased 5.7 percent to 932.0 from 987.9 the previous week, and the seasonally adjusted Government Index decreased 4.4 percent to 156.0 from 163.2 the previous week.

“Given the current turmoil in the mortgage market, week-to-week changes in the purchase applications index should be treated with a certain degree of caution. For example, the sudden exit of a major originator several weeks ago may have led to a bump up in applications over the last two weeks as those borrowers caught in the shutdown reapplied for mortgages at other institutions. The drop in applications we see here may be an indication that those borrowers have now been taken care of,” said Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 1.3 percent to 645.8 from 637.8. The four week moving average is up 1.0 percent to 442.6 from 438.3 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 1.6 percent to 1835.3 from 1806.9 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity remained unchanged at 39.9 percent of total applications. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 18.6 from 21.0 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.49 percent from 6.45 percent, with points decreasing to 1.48 from 1.54 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.20 from 6.19 percent, with points decreasing to 1.10 from 1.16 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.84 from 5.81 percent, with points decreasing to 1.05 from 1.11 (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.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association