Mortgage Refinance Applications Down 17.4 Percent Since Last Month

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 23, 2005) —The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 18. The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume – was 635.4, a decrease of 3.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 657.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 4.8 percent compared with the previous week, but was down 11.8 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 1.2 percent to 472.3 from 477.9 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 6.9 percent to 1584.1 from 1702.4 one week earlier. The Refinance Index is down 17.4 percent compared to four weeks ago when the index was 2144.5 Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which decreased 2.8 percent to 953.4 from 980.8 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased 11.4 percent to 104.6 from 118.1 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 1.7 percent to 650.3 from 661.2. The four week moving average is up 0.3 percent to 463.4 from 461.9 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 4.6 percent to 1737.0 from 1820.2 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 39.9 percent of total applications from 40.4 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 33.2 percent of total applications from 32.9 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.26 percent from 6.33 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.11 from 1.26 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.83 percent from 5.87 percent, with points decreasing to 1.12 from 1.24 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 5.41 percent from 5.46 percent one week earlier, with points increasing to 0.99 from 0.97 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.



**SPECIAL NOTES**

The 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. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is the national association representing the real estate finance industry, an industry that employs more than 500,000 people in virtually every community in the country. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the association works to ensure the continued strength of the nation`s residential and commercial real estate markets; to expand homeownership and extend access to affordable housing to all Americans. MBA promotes fair and ethical lending practices and fosters professional excellence among real estate finance employees through a wide range of educational programs and a variety of publications. Its membership of over 3,000 companies includes all elements of real estate finance: mortgage companies, mortgage brokers, commercial banks, thrifts, Wall Street conduits, life insurance companies and others in the mortgage lending field. For additional information, visit MBA`s Web site: www.mortgagebankers.org.

Contact Information

Susan Besaw

Mortgage Bankers Association

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