Mortgage applications drop 5%

by KERRI PANCHUK

Mortgage applications fell 5% last week as home purchases and mortgage refinancing activity declined, an industry trade group said Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's Market Composite Index – a measure of mortgage loan application volume – fell 5% on a seasonally adjusted basis from a week earlier. Those results include an adjustment for the Martin Luther King holiday.

The refinance index alone fell 5.2% from the previous week. Meanwhile, the seasonally-adjusted purchase index decreased 5.4%.

The same survey said the refinance share of mortgage activity fell from 82.2% to 81.3% in the latest period.

Meanwhile, the average interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with a conforming loan limit increased to 4.11% from 4.06% a week earlier, and the average 30-year, FRM with jumbo loan balances declined from 4.40% to 4.39%. The average, 30-year FRM backed by the FHA increased to 3.97% from 3.91% a week earlier.

In addition, the 15-year, FRM increased to 3.40%, from 3.33%, and the 5/1 ARM stayed mostly the same at 2.91%, compared to 2.90% the previous week.

Data compiled from December shows 56.6% of mortgage applications were for 30-year loans, while 24.3% and 5.3% went for 15-year loans and ARMs, respectively.

URL to original article: http://www.housingwire.com/2012/01/25/mortgage-applications-drop-5

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