Mortgage applications increased 23.1 percent from one week earlier (last week’s results included an adjustment for New Years Day), according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 13, 2012. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 23.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 5.99 percent. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 82.2 percent of total applications from 80.8 percent the previous week. “Interest rates dropped last week due to continuing anxieties regarding the fragile economic situation in Europe,” says Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics. Fratantoni continued, “With mortgage rates reaching new lows, refinance volume jumped and MBA’s refinance index reached its highest level in the last six months. Purchase activity also increased as buyers returned to the market after the holiday season.”
