by Calculated Risk on 5/10/2006 10:01:00 AM

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


Click on graph for larger image.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 562.1, a decrease of 5.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 596.8 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 5.2 percent compared with the previous week and was down 27.1 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 3.9 percent to 416.5 from 433.3 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 8.8 percent to 1427.4 from 1565.6 one week earlier.

Mortgage rates were mixed:

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.61 percent from 6.57 percent ...

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.04 percent from 6.08 percent ...

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

Total	-27.1%
Purchase	-20.7%
Refi	-36.9%
Fixed-Rate	-19.4%
ARM	-41.0%

Purchase activity is off 20.7% from the comparable week last year.