The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 4, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 513.4, an increase of 7.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 477.7 one week earlier. This week's results include an adjustment to account for the Independence Day holiday. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 14.1 percent compared with the previous week and was down 18.1 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index increased 8.7 percent to 1379.3 from 1269.2 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 6.7 percent to 365.8 from 342.8 one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index increased 1.6 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) increased 19.8 percent.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 2.3 percent to 489.7 from 501.1.  The four week moving average is down 0.9 percent to 350.0 from 353.2 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 4.4 percent to 1309.8 from 1370.5 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 37.3 percent of total applications from 36.8 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity increased to 10.0 percent from 8.5 percent of total applications from the previous week.

More mortgage applications were filed last week despite a rise in the average contract interest rates associated with mortgage loans. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.43 percent from 6.33 percent while the average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.94 percent from 5.90 percent. Lastly, the average contract interest rate for one-year adjustable-rate mortgages increased to 7.24 percent from 7.14 percent.