Refinancing activity jumps in mid-November survey

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 707.3, an increase of 5.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 670.6 the previous week. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 4.2 percent from the previous week and was up 21.8 percent compared with the same week a year ago.

According to a news release, the refinancing index increased 6.4 percent to 2,315.7 from 2,176.1 the previous week.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 50.2 percent of total applications from 49.1 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity increased to 15.5 from 14.2 percent of total applications the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.19 percent from 6.16 percent, with points increasing to 1.16 from 1.08 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value-ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages remained unchanged at 5.77 percent, with points increasing to 1.13 from 1.1 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value loans.

The survey also found that the average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.98 percent from 5.94 percent, with points increasing to 0.93 from 0.90 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value loans.

The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased 4.8 percent to 432.6 from 412.7 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the purchase index increased 2.1 percent to 395.4 from 387.3 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted conventional index increased 5.9 percent to 1.017 from 960 the previous week, and the seasonally adjusted government index increased 1.5 percent to 190.8 from 188 the previous week.

The four-week moving average for the seasonally adjusted market index is up 1.9 percent to 679 from 666.3. The four-week moving average is up 0.2 percent to 418.5 from 417.6 for the purchase index, while this average is up 4 percent to 2,200 from 2,116.3 for the refinance index.