Mortgage Applications Up 1.3 Percent

Mortgage applications increased 1.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 7, 2011.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 1.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 1.3 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 1.3 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1.1 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1.2 percent compared with the previous week and was 2.9 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The increases were driven mainly by the government loan category, with the Government Purchase index up 2.4 percent and Government Refinance index increasing 9.9 percent. The Conventional Purchase and Refinance indexes increased 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 1.56 percent. The four week moving average is down 0.51 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 2.15 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity remained unchanged at 79.1 percent of total applications from the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 6.0 percent from 6.4 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average loan size of all loans for home purchase in the US was $210,863 in September 2011, down from $212,736 in August 2011. The average loan size for a refinance was $237,632, down from $241,323 in August. The largest purchase loans were made in the Pacific region at $ 302,110. The largest refinance loans were also made in the Pacific region at $ 339,592.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,500 or less) increased to 4.25 percent from 4.18 percent, with points increasing to 0.47 from 0.44(including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate also increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,500) increased to 4.59 percent from 4.49 percent, with points increasing to 0.49 from 0.41 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate also increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 4.06 percent from 4.05 percent, with points decreasing to 0.58 from 0.69 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate also decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.53 percent from 3.49 percent, with points remaining unchanged from 0.45 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate also increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 3.03 percent from 3.02 percent, with points increasing to 0.54 from 0.41 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate also increased from last week.

Home Values Tread Water, Dallas Remains Flat in August

Home values in the United States showed minimal monthly appreciation in August of 2011, according to the Zillow® Real Estate Market Report(i). The Zillow Home Value Index(ii) increased 0.1 percent from July to August. On a year-over-year basis home values declined 4.5 percent to $172,600. Home values have fallen 28.3 percent since they peaked in June 2006.

Regionally, 68 of the 157 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) covered by Zillow experienced monthly home value appreciation, though minimal in many areas. Most notably, two of the hardest hit markets, Detroit and Ft. Myers, Fla., have now seen five and nine consecutive months of appreciation, respectively. Seventy-four markets saw home value depreciation and 15 markets, including Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., remained flat.

The foreclosure liquidation rate, which measures the number of homes lost to the bank, stayed steady at around 9.2 out of every 10,000 homes foreclosed in August. This is down from the rate of 10.9 out of every 10,000 homes in October 2010, before the robo-signing lawsuits slowed the pace of foreclosures in most states. However, foreclosure liquidations remained high in many of the hardest hit metros in California, Nevada, and Arizona. In Las Vegas and Phoenix more than 30 out of every 10,000 homes were liquidated in August.

"Due to the robo-signing controversy, the pace of foreclosure liquidations has been slower than it would be otherwise, which is impacting home value trends positively. Eventually the pace will pick up again, putting more bank-owned homes into local markets and putting additional downward pressure on prices," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. "We remain encouraged about the organic stabilization in home values that we have been seeing absent the federal home buyer tax credits, but we remain concerned about the impact that recent economic turmoil and continued weak economic indicators will have on future home sales and home value trends."

"At this point, we maintain the expectation that a definitive bottom will not occur until 2012 at the earliest."