by Calculated Risk on 3/22/2006 10:56:00 AM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports: Mortgage Application Volume Down Slightly


Click on graph for larger image.

The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume was 565.0 – a decrease of 1.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 574.4 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1.6 percent compared with the previous week but was down 13.8 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 2.3 percent to 393.6 from 403.0 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 0.6 percent to 1574.5 from 1583.6 one week earlier.

Fixed mortgage rates decreased:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.31 percent from 6.42 percent ...

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.68 percent from 5.64 percent ...

Change in mortgage applications from one year ago (from Dow Jones):

Total	-13.8%
Purchase	-11.7%
Refi	-16.9
Fixed-Rate	-7.0%
ARM	-27.1%

Purchase activity is off 12% from the same week in 2005 and overall mortgage activity is off 14%.