Mortgage Applications Hit Eight-Year Low, According to Latest MBA Survey

The ""Mortgage Bankers Association"":http://www.mbaa.org (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 15, 2008 today. The new stats show mortgage applications declined only slightly from last week, but have now hit their lowest level since December 2000.
According to the MBA's data, the Market Composite Index, which is a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 419.3, a decrease of 1.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week, when it was 425.9. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 2.6 percent compared to the previous week and was down 34.2 percent compared to the same week a year earlier.
The MBA also reported the following key statistics (percentage changes reflect comparison to the previous week):
-Refinance Index: 1034.5, down 3.7 percent
-Purchase Index = 314.0, a decrease of 0.4 percent
-Conventional Purchase Index declined 0.7 percent
-Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) rose by 0.2 percent
-Average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.47 percent from 6.57 percent
-Average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.99 percent from 6.17 percent
-Average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs dropped to 7.07 percent from 7.15 percent
Based on MBA's survey results, the refinance share of mortgage activity fell to 34.8 percent of total applications, from 35.2 percent the previous week. Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) increased to 8.0 percent of total applications, compared to 7.3 percent the week prior.
To view the full survey results, ""click here"":http://www.mortgagebankers.org/NewsandMedia/PressCenter/64512.htm.