Weekly Mortgage Applications Decrease Exceeds 22 Percent

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the weeks ending December 25, 2009 and January 1, 2010. For the week ending December 25, 2009, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 22.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the prior week. For the week ending January 1, 2010, this index increased 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. Both weeks’ results include an adjustment to account for the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays. 

Reflecting the trend, refinancing also dropped while mortgage costs increased: 

• For the week ending December 25, 2009, the Refinance Index decreased 30.5 percent from the previous week. 

• The following week, the Refinance Index decreased 1.6 percent. 

• For the week ending December 25, 2009, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.08 percent from 4.92 percent. 

• For the week ending January 1, 2010, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.18 percent.

The seasonally adjusted MBA Purchase Index decreased 4.0 percent from one week prior to December 25, then increased 3.6 percent the following week. But most significant is the sharp decline in purchase applications since mid-October, leading to a drop of the four-week moving average of the Purchase Index to its lowest level since November 1997, reports Calculated Risk blog.