Mortgage Bankers Association

Here is a press release from the The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) dated October 5, 2005:

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 30. The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume – was 713.5, a decrease of 1.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 721.2 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1.2 percent compared with the previous week and was down 1.8 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 1.9 percent to 473.8 from 483.1 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index increased by 0.1 percent to 2107.4 from 2106.6 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which decreased 1.8 percent to 1068.9 from 1088.8 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased 11.4 percent to 120.3 from 108.0 the previous week.


The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 44.5 percent of total applications from 43.9 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 29.8 percent of total applications from 28.8 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.94 percent from 5.85 percent on week earlier, with points increasing to 1.21 from 1.19 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.55 percent from 5.44 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.15 from 1.23 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.13 percent from 5.02 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 0.98 from 1.01 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The difference between the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages and for one-year ARM’s decreased to 0.81 basis points. This is the lowest spread since March 16, 2001.

The profit margins for the mortgage companies are being squezed. Interest rates are rising. The hiss is getting louder.