Mortgage applications down 22.6% last week: MBA

By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch

Last update: 7:00 a.m. EST Feb. 20, 2008
Marketwatch

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Mortgage applications filed last week dropped a seasonally adjusted 22.6% from the previous week, as interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages increased, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.

Applications in the week ended Feb. 15 were up 33.9% compared with the same week in 2007, the Washington-based MBA's latest survey showed.

Applications for loans to refinance existing mortages were down 27.9% on a week-to-week basis, while applications for mortgages to purchase homes were down a seasonally adjusted 11.5%, according to the survey.

The four-week moving average for all loans was down 3.8%.

According to the survey, refinancing applications accounted for 61.7% of all filings last week, down from 67.4% the previous week. Adjustable-rate mortgages made up 12.8% of all applications, higher than 9.9% in the previous week.

Average interest rates for 30- and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased last week to 6.09% and 5.55%, respectively, up from 5.72% and 5.18% in the previous week. But the average rate on one-year ARMs didn't change, remaining at the 5.72% seen in the Feb. 8 week.

The MBA survey covers about half of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.