WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 12, 2006) — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 7.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 566.8, an increase of 1.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 561.0 one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 29.1 percent compared with the previous week and was down 36.3 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. 

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 2.6 percent to 425.0 from 414.2 the previous week and the Refinance Index decreased by 1.6 percent to 1400.5 from 1423.9 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which increased 1.2 percent to 837.3 from 827.2 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased 1.3 percent to 115.8 from 117.3 the previous week.
 
The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 0.2 percent to 556.3 from 557.5.  The four week moving average is up 0.6 percent to 410.8 from 408.2 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 1.7 percent to 1411.6 from 1436.4 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 34.0 percent of total applications from 35.0 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 28.7 percent of total applications from 29.5 percent the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.81 percent from 6.80 percent, with points decreasing to 1.06 from 1.13 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. 

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.40 percent from 6.41 percent, with points increasing to 1.17 from 1.12 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. 

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 6.41 percent from 6.39 percent, with points increasing to 0.79 from 0.78 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. This is the highest that the one year rate has been since February 2001.

**SPECIAL NOTES**

The survey covers approximately 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage originations, and has been conducted weekly since 1990.  Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts.  Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.

###

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is the national association representing the real estate finance industry, an industry that employs more than 280,000 people in virtually every community in the country. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the association works to ensure the continued strength of the nation's residential and commercial real estate markets; to expand homeownership and extend access to affordable housing to all Americans. MBA promotes fair and ethical lending practices and fosters professional excellence among real estate finance employees through a wide range of educational programs and a variety of publications. Its membership of over 2,200 companies includes all elements of real estate finance: mortgage companies, mortgage brokers, commercial banks, thrifts, Wall Street conduits, life insurance companies and others in the mortgage lending field. For additional information, visit MBA's Web site:  www.mortgagebankers.org.