Mortgage applications decreased 0.4 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Sept. 27, 2013. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 0.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 1 percent compared with the previous week.
The Refinance Index increased 3 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 6 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 6 percent compared with the previous week and was 3 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 63 percent of total applications, the highest level since August 2013, from 61 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 6 percent of total applications.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) decreased to 4.49 percent, the lowest rate since June 2013, from 4.62 percent, with points decreasing to 0.34 from 0.41 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990.