Refis, home purchases slow in latest survey

Mortgage application volume dipped last week as interest rates moved within a narrow range, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

The MBA's market composite index, a measure of total home loan application volume, lost 1.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week before, impacted by a 3.2 percent drop in the index that tracks refinancings.

MBA reported that the purchase-loan index dipped slightly last week.

Interest rates posted mixed movement in the survey as the average contract interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages last week rose to 6.16 percent from 6.15 percent one week earlier, the average 15-year fixed slipped from 5.79 percent to 5.77 percent, and the average rate on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) edged up from 5.93 percent to 5.94 percent.

Points, or loan-processing fees expressed as a percent of the total loan amount, averaged 1.08 on the 30-year loans, 1.1 on the 15-year, and 0.9 on one-year ARMs -- compared with 1.05, 1.1 and 0.93, respectively, in the previous week. These points include the origination fee and are based on loan-to-value ratios of 80 percent.

According to MBA, the refinance share of loan applications last week dipped from 49.6 percent to 49.1 percent, and the ARM share sank from 14.7 percent to 14.2 percent.

The Mortgage Bankers Association survey covers approximately 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage originations, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts.

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