The Market Composite Index of mortgage loan applications, a measure of mortgage loan applications for purchases and refinancings, increased by 25.6 percent to 1,117.1 on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending March 12 from 889.1 one week earlier, according to a report released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased by 24.8 percent for the week ending March 12 compared with the previous week and was down 31.9 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
"Even with this surge in refinance applications, the share of applications for adjustable-rate mortgages is staying the same at almost 28 percent of applications and over 42 percent of the dollar volume," said Jay Brinkmann, MBA's vice president of research and economics. "This means that a sizable percentage of these refinance applications are for adjustable-rate loans."
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 62.8 percent of total applications for the week ending March 12 from 56.1 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 27.9 percent of total applications for the week ending March 12 compared to 28.1 percent the previous week, according to the report.
Posted by gandlwoods at March 22, 2004 08:52 AM