The most recent Survey carried out into Mortgage applications showed that the
number of applicants had increased by almost 5 %. A seasonal adjustment showed
that a rise of 4.8% had occurred since only a week beforehand, but when the
calculation was not adjusted the rise came to a full 5%. The Refinance index also
increased by a similar figure after it had shown a continued decline over the previous
month and a half. The purchase index also increased but to a higher degree to reach
its highest percentile since the Christmas period.

The overall trend in applications
Mortgage applications are definitely on the rise. A like on like comparison between
this year and the same time last year shows an increase of 10% for applications for
loans from the Government, which is quite substantial. The most likely reason for this
is the impending hike up in insurance rates, which seems to have driven mortgage
applicants to put in their applications sooner than they perhaps would have.

The four week moving averages
The moving averages for the Market index and Refinance index are both down,
whilst that of the purchase index is higher. Since the summer of last year, the
refinance share has dropped to its lowest point, however, the ARM activity increased
in comparison. The share of mortgage applications showed that well over three
quarters were for fixed rate loans over a period of thirty years, but only just slightly
over six and a half percent were for loans over half this period of time. Even fewer
were for adjustable rate mortgages. Mortgages that were for periods other than 30 or
15 years accounted for only around two percent.

Average Contract Rates per loan type
Contract rates for loans over a thirty year period have lowered to around the
four percent mark. This figure only applies to mortgages on a balance less that
around 400,000 dollars, although the percentile for balances higher than this figure
decreased to a similar degree, at 4.46%. The rates for loans taken out over the same
period at a fixed rate and backed by the FHA decreased to almost four percent.

Contract rates for adjustable rate mortgages decreased to approximately three
percent. More information can be sought from mortgage banking sites, which show
like on like comparisons throughout the year and from week to week, with seasonally
adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted calculations.