by Calculated Risk on 5/31/2006 10:44:00 AM

UPDATE: Also see Barry Ritholtz' Recent Housing Data: Charts & Analysis (with graphs from Northern Trust). This graph from NT's Asha Bangalore shows a longer term view of the MBA Purchase Index.



ORIGINAL POST: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports: Mortgage Application Volume Declines


Click on graph for larger image.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 541.9, a decrease of 1.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 552.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 2.6 percent compared with the previous week and was down 22.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 0.2 percent to 395.5 from 396.4 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 4.8 percent to 1409.0 from 1480.5 one week earlier....

Mortgage rates increased slightly:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.66 percent from 6.61 percent ...

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.09 percent from 6.02 percent ...

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

Total	-22.4%
Purchase	-14.2%
Refi	-34.2%
Fixed-Rate	-19.4%
ARM	-28.5%

Using the MBA weekly data, it appears purchase activity in May '06 will be about 15% below May '05.