The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported hardly a ripple in the mortgage market during the week ended September 23.  Its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, dipped 0.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier and decreased 1 percent when seasonally adjusted compared to the week ended September 16.

The volume of refinance applications measured by MBA's Refinance Index eased by 2 percent and refinancing as a share of all activity decreased to 62.7 percent from 63.1 percent the previous week.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent week-over-week while the unadjusted Purchase Index was unchanged.  The unadjusted index was 10 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

The share of applications for FHA mortgages was unchanged from the previous week at 10.2 percent while VA applications increased to 11.9 percent of the total from 11.6 percent. The USDA share of total applications decreased to 0.6 percent from 0.7 percent.

Contract interest rates of most loan products were down modestly from the previous week.  Effective rates decreased for all but the 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage (ARM).

The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRM) with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) decreased to 3.66 percent from 3.70 percent, with points decreasing to 0.33 from 0.38. The jumbo version of the 30-year FRM, loans with balances greater than $417,000, declined by 5 basis points to 3.64 percent and points decreased to 0.28 from 0.29.

Thirty-year FRM backed by the FHA had an average rate of 3.52 percent with 0.21 point.  The previous week the rate was 3.56 percent with 0.23 point.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year FRM decreased to 2.95 percent from 2.99 percent.  Points rose to 0.38 from 0.35.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 2.92 percent from 2.96 percent, with points increasing to 0.40 from 0.26. Applications for ARMs had a 4.4 percent share of the total, unchanged from a week earlier.

MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, which has been conducted since 1990, covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail mortgage applications.  Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100 and interest rate information presumes a mortgage with an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio and points that include the origination fee.