Number of mortgage loan applications up, survey says

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The Mortgage Bankers Association of America released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Sept. 26. |ret||ret||tab|

The Market Composite Index of mortgage loan applications a measure of mortgage loan applications for purchases and refinancings increased by 1.1 percent to 707.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 699.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased by 0.9 percent compared with the previous week, up from 686.9 to 692.9.|ret||ret||tab|

The MBA';s seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 1.1 percent to 397.8, down from 402.1 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index increased by 3.2 percent to 2,506.8 from 2,429.7 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which increased 0.5 percent to 993.5 from 988.1 the previous week. |ret||ret||tab|

The Government Index increased 5.2 percent to 229.4 from 218 the previous week.|ret||ret||tab|

"While the 60 to 70 basis-point drop in rates we have seen since mid-July has not been enough to trigger another wave of refinancing, it has nevertheless given some borrowers another chance to take advantage of some very attractive rates," said Jay Brinkmann, MBA's vice president of research and economics, in an Oct. 1 news release.|ret||ret||tab|

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 53.1 percent of total applications, from 51.9 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity increased to 23.4 percent from 22.7 percent the previous week.|ret||ret||tab|

The average contract interest rate for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.67 percent from 5.85 the previous week, with points decreasing to 1.26 from 1.29 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio loans.|ret||ret||tab|

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.97 percent from 5.16 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.26 from 1.4 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.|ret||ret||tab|

The average contract interest rate for one-year adjustable-rate mortgages decreased to 3.45 from 3.56 the previous week, with points increasing to 1.06 from 1.05 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.|ret||ret||tab|

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