WASHINGTON – U.S. applications for housing loans increased last week, after declining the week before, according to a report today from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The MBA’s Market Composite Index – a measure of mortgage loan application volume, and a leading indicator for housing sales – rose last week to 686.2 points, in a seasonally adjusted increase of 1.6 percent from the week before. Compared with the same week in 2006, the increase was 23 percent.
The MBA’s Refinance Index also rose last week, increasing a seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent to 2,154.7 points. As a share of total mortgage activity, refinances increased to 42.3 percent of applications last week from 42.1 percent the week before.
Average contract interest rates also rose, the MBA said.
The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.23 percent from 6.13 percent the week before, while average points (including loan origination fees) increased to 1.53 for 80-percent loan-to-value loans from the previous week’s 1.47.
For 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, the average rate increased to 5.96 percent from the previous week’s 5.81 percent but points decreased to 1.24 from the previous 1.35.
The average rate for one-year adjustable-rate mortgages increased to 5.72 percent last week from the previous week’s 5.61 percent while points decreased to 1.1 from 1.13.
Additional information is available at www.mbaa.org/.
