Refinance Activity Increases to Highest Level Since May 2009 in Latest MBA Weekly Survey press release 8/18/2010

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 13, 2010.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 13.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 12.4 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index increased 17.1 percent from the previous week and was the highest Refinance Index observed in the survey since the week ending May 15, 2009. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 3.4 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 4.6 percent compared with the previous week and was 38.6 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 2.6 percent.  The four week moving average is up 0.1 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 3.2 percent for the Refinance Index.