The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 1.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 43 percent compared with the previous week.  The Refinance Index increased 4 percent from the previous week.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.04 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 36 percent compared with the previous week and was 29 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

 

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 58.7 percent of total applications from 56.6 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.2 percent of total applications.

 

The FHA share of total applications increased to 14.0 percent from 13.2 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications decreased to 10.8 percent from 11.3 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.7 percent the week prior.

 

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to 4.14 percent from 4.12 percent, with points decreasing to 0.43 from  0.50 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.  The effective rate was unchanged from last week.

 

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) increased to 4.02 percent from 3.99 percent, with points increasing to 0.40 from 0.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.

 

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 3.91 percent from 3.89 percent, with points decreasing to 0.43 from 0.49 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate was unchanged from last week.

 

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.39 percent from 3.36 percent, with points decreasing to 0.39 from 0.44 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

 

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 2.98 percent from 3.11 percent, with points decreasing to 0.30 from 0.44 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent 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.  Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts.  Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.