Demand for purchase loans down 10.3%

Demand for mortgages, both purchase loans and refinancings, fell during the holiday-shortened week ending Sept. 11, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today in releasing the results of its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

Even after adjusting for the Labor Day holiday, applications for purchase loans were down 10.3 percent, and requests for refinancings were down 7.4 percent. All told, mortgage loan applications fell 8.6 percent from a week earlier.

Applications for refinancings accounted for 61 percent of all applications, up from 59.8 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity rose to 6 percent, up from 5.8 percent a week earlier.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.08 percent with 0.98 point (including the origination fee), compared with 5.02 percent and 1.23 points the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.41 percent with 1.12 points, compared with 4.45 percent and 1.13 points the week before.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 6.61 percent with 0.2 point, compared with 6.69 percent and 0.19 point the previous week.

Those rates are for mortgages with 80 percent loan-to-value ratios. Buyers making smaller downpayments or homeowners refinancing loans with less equity in their properties could expect to pay more.

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