The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 11, 2008.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 522.2, an increase of 1.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 513.4 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 27.0 percent compared with the previous Independence Day holiday shortened week and was down 17.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index increased 6.9 percent to 1474.9 from 1379.3 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 1.7 percent to 359.7 from 365.8 one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index increased 1.4 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) decreased 8.2 percent.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 0.7 percent to 493.7 from 490.2. The four week moving average for the Purchase Index edged up to 350.5 from 350.4, while this average is up 1.8 percent to 1333.9 from 1309.8 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 39.2 percent of total applications from 37.3 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 9.1 from 10.0 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.22 percent from 6.43 percent, while the average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.74 percent from 5.94 percent. Lastly, the average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 7.16 percent from 7.24 percent.