Mortgage Apps Increase in Latest Survey

The ""Mortgage Bankers Association"":http://www.mortgagebankers.org (MBA) released its ""Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey"":http://www.mortgagebankers.org/NewsandMedia/PressCenter/68977.htm on Wednesday, which showed a slight increase in home loan activity due to a renewed uptick in the demand for refinancings.
For the week ending May 15, 2009, MBA reported that overall mortgage loan application volume increased 2.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared to one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, total volume was up 2 percent from the previous week and jumped 42 percent compared with the same week last year.
Based on MBA's studies, refinancing demand has trended down from its mid-April peak, while purchase mortgage demand has increased modestly in recent weeks - until last week, when the activity flip-flopped for the two types of mortgage applications.
MBA's Refinance Index last week gained 4.5 percent, while the Purchase Index dropped 4.4 percent. MBA said the refinance share of mortgage activity last week increased to 73.6 percent of total applications, up from 71.9 percent the previous week.
The association also reported average mortgage interest rates for the home loan applications submitted last week, which inched lower for all loan products in the study.
The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) decreased to 4.69 percent, down from 4.76 percent. The average contract interest rate for 15-year FRMs also fell, dropping from 4.50 percent to 4.44 percent last week.
The average contract interest rate for one-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) decreased to 6.38 percent from 6.41 percent the week before. The ARM share of activity increased to 2.4 percent of total applications, up from 2.3 percent the previous week.