Mortgage Refinance Applications Rise, Purchase Applications Remain Flat

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(WASHINGTON, DC) -- The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 8, 2010.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 14.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 66.0 percent compared with the previous week, which was a shortened week due to the New Year's holiday.

The Refinance Index increased 21.8 percent from last week's holiday adjusted index and increased 73.9 percent from last week's unadjusted index. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.8 percent from one week earlier.  The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 48.8 percent compared with the previous week and was 24.9 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 6.4 percent.  The four week moving average is down 3.2 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 8.0 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 71.5 percent of total applications from 68.2 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity was unchanged at 4.0 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.13 percent from 5.18 percent, with points decreasing to 1.17 from 1.28 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.45 percent from 4.62 percent, with points increasing to 1.04 from 0.98 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.83 percent from 6.42 percent, with points decreasing to 0.31 from 0.50 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

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