Housing Bubble
Weekly MBA report shows slowdown in housing market
The Market Composite Index of mortgage loan applications -- a measure of mortgage loan applications for purchases and refinancings -- for the week ending October 11 decreased 2.2 percent to 1288.4 on a seasonally-adjusted basis from its record high of 1317.0 the previous week, according to the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBA), which was released today. Last week was the twelfth consecutive week that the Market Composite Index has been above 1000. On an unadjusted basis, the Index also decreased 2.1 percent but was up 40.8 percent compared to the same week a year earlier.
The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased to 341.9 from 352.5 the previous week. This component, which directly measures mortgage activity due to home purchases, has now fallen in four of the last five weeks. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index decreased to 6793.8 from its record high of 6926.9 the previous week. Last week marked the twelfth consecutive week that the Refinance Index has been above 4000. The Refinance Index has been above 5000 for nine of those twelve weeks and above 6000 for four of those twelve weeks. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which decreased to 1868.3 from 1921.6 the previous week. The Government Index increased to 320.6 from 308.1 the previous week.
Refinancing activity represented 78.0 percent of total applications, increasing from 77.9 percent the previous week. The share of ARM activity decreased to 12.8 percent from 13.4 percent the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages increased to 5.96 percent from 5.87 percent the previous week, with points increasing to 1.50 from 1.46 the previous week (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 5.31 percent from the record low of 5.16 percent the previous week, with points increasing to 1.49 from 1.37 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.
The average contract interest rate for 1-year ARMs was 4.07 percent, increasing slightly from 4.03 percent the previous week, with points decreasing to 1.06 from 1.11 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
