WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 05, 2007 – The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 30, 2007. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 791.8, an increase of 22.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 646.3 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 51.5 percent compared with the previous week-which was a shortened week due to the Thanksgiving holiday-and was up 24.2 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. The changes calculated above are based on revised numbers for the previous reporting period.The Refinance Index increased 31.9 percent to 2761.3 from 2093.0 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 15.2 percent to 464.3 from 403.2 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Purchase Index increased 37.3 percent to 373.5 from 272.1 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Conventional Index increased 21.9 percent to 1138.4 from 933.5 the previous week, and the seasonally adjusted Government Index increased 27.8 percent to 214.0 from 167.4 the previous week. The changes calculated above are based on revised numbers for the previous reporting period.
Due to an error by one of the larger reporting companies for the Thanksgiving-shortened week ending November 23, the indices reported in the November 28, 2007 press release have been revised. The seasonally adjusted market composite index for that week was 646.3 rather than the 652.5 originally reported. The refinance index was 2093.0 rather than the 1862.9 originally reported and the seasonally adjusted purchase index was 403.2 rather than the 450.1 originally reported.
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 4.5 percent to 706.8 from 676.5. The four week moving average is up 3.1 percent to 431.0 from 418.2 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 6.7 percent to 2342.5 from 2196.2 for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 56.0 percent of total applications from 51.4 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 11.6 from 14.6 percent of total applications from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.82 percent from 6.09 percent, with points unchanged at 1.07 (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 5.38 percent from 5.69 percent, with points decreasing to 1.12 from 1.13 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.28 percent from 6.24 percent, with points increasing to 0.99 from 0.96 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
**SPECIAL NOTES**
The survey covers approximately 50 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.
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The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is the national association representing the real estate finance industry, an industry that employs more than 500,000 people in virtually every community in the country. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the association works to ensure the continued strength of the nation’s residential and commercial real estate markets; to expand homeownership and extend access to affordable housing to all Americans. MBA promotes fair and ethical lending practices and fosters professional excellence among real estate finance employees through a wide range of educational programs and a variety of publications. Its membership of over 3,000 companies includes all elements of real estate finance: mortgage companies, mortgage brokers, commercial banks, thrifts, Wall Street conduits, life insurance companies and others in the mortgage lending field. For additional information, visit MBA’s Web site: www.mortgagebankers.org.
