Mortgage Activity Down To May 2002 Levels

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage loan application was down to May 2002 levels.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 28. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 527.6, a decrease of 1.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 533.8 one week earlier. This is the lowest that the index has been since May 2002. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1.4 percent compared with the previous week but was down 29.0 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 37.0 percent of total applications from 35.6 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 27.8 percent of total applications from 28.6 percent the previous week. The ARM share is at its lowest since March 2004.

Calculated Risk has a superb post with great graphs. Obviously, this is more evidence of the significant declines occuring in the housing market.