Yesterday, the Mortgage Bankers Association released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 26, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 444.8, a decrease of 18.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 548.2 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 18.5 percent compared with the previous week and decreased 7.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
The Refinance Index decreased 30.0 percent to 1482.2 from 2116.3 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4.5 percent to 267.7 from 280.3 one week earlier. The Refinance Index is at its lowest level since November 2008.
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 9.2 percent. The four week moving average is unchanged for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 15.2 percent for the Refinance Index.
New weekly mortgage applications are at a seven-month low, but mortgage rates are only one factor influencing potential buyers. Unemployment, job security, buyer’s inability to sell their current home and appraisals coming in too low are all important factors. It is likely that unless mortgage rates drop back below 5%, buyers will continue to be cautious.
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