Econintersect: Mortgage applications increased 4.0% WoW from one week earlier for the week ending April 29, 2011. According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey :
- On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 4.1 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 6.0 percent from the previous week.
- The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 62.7 percent of total applications from 61.6 percent the previous week. This is the highest refinance share of the month. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.7 percent from 6.5 percent of total applications from the previous week.
Econintersect believes mortgage applications are no longer predicitive of home sales as over 1/3 of the current home purchases are not financed.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased for the third consecutive week to 4.76 percent from 4.80 percent, with points decreasing to 0.76 from 1.00 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. This is the lowest 30-year fixed contract rate since December 3, 2010. The effective rate also decreased from last week.
