Mortgage Market Trends End of July 2009
According to the results of the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 31, 2009, mortgage loan application volume, increased 4.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier, 18% compared with the same week one year ago. Refinancing activity was up to as the Refinance Index increased 7.2% from the previous week. The survey indicates also increasing share of refinancing activity to total mortgage activity and slightly decreasing share of adjustable-rate mortgages. MBA and Freddie Mac are reporting decreasing rates for fixed-rate mortgages. In particular, MBA reported a decrease of 19 basis points in the contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages to 5.17% from 5.36% in the previous week. The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased as well 15 basis points to 4.60% from 4.75%. The average rate for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) remained practically stable. In particular, the contract interest rate for one-year ARMs registered a negligible increase of one basis point as it averaged 6.67% compared to 6.66%. These mortgage market trends continued in the first week of August, according to the latest results of the Primary Mortgage Market Survey published by Freddie Mac. According to this survey the average contract rate for both the 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased by 3 and 6 basis points from previous weeks surveyed levels.
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