Recent Updates
- New Zealand: Performance of Service Index, Composite PMI (Nov)
- Iran: Monetary & Credit Aggregates (Oct)
- Israel: Job Vacancy Survey (Nov)
- China: 70-City Property Prices (Nov)
- Serbia: Labor Cost Index (Q3); CPI (NOV)
- Czech Republic: Mortgage Loans (Q3)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Industrial Production Rebounds
Industrial production jumped a greater-than-expected 0.6% (3.9% year-on-year) during November...
U.S. Business Inventory Accumulation Picks Up
Total business inventories increased 0.6% (5.1% y/y) during October...
U.S. Import Prices Weaken As Petroleum Prices Fall; Export Prices Also Decline
Import prices fell 1.6% (+0.7% y/y) during November following an unrevised 0.5% October rise...
U.S. Government Budget Deficit Surges Unexpectedly
The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran a $204.9 billion budget deficit during November...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Decline
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 206,000 (-7.6% y/y) during the week ended December 8...
by Tom Moeller March 23, 2005
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications dropped 9.5% last week and pulled the average level in March 4.1% below February.
Applications to refinance plummeted 16.5% leaving the February average off 13.5% from February.
Purchase applications fell for the first week in the last four. The 3.5% decline still left purchase applications 5.1% higher than in February.
The effective interest rate on a conventional 30-year mortgage rose to 6.19% from 6.16% the prior week and from 5.85% in February. The effective rate on a 15-year mortgage also rose to 5.81%.
The Mortgage Bankers Association surveys between 20 to 35 of the top lenders in the U.S. housing industry to derive its refinance, purchase and market indexes. The weekly survey accounts for more than 40% of all applications processed each week by mortgage lenders. Visit the Mortgage Bankers Association site here.
| MBA Mortgage Applications (3/16/90=100) | 03/18/05 | 03/11/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Market Index | 658.8 | 727.6 | -40.9% | 735.1 | 1,067.9 | 799.7 |
| Purchase | 446.4 | 462.8 | -0.6% | 454.5 | 395.1 | 354.7 |
| Refinancing | 1,894.4 | 2,267.5 | -62.0% | 2,366.8 | 4,981.8 | 3,388.0 |
