The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 26, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 455.4, a decrease of 23.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 23.4 percent compared with the previous week and was down 28.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The Refinance Index decreased 34.7 percent to 1333.9 from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 10.9 percent to 304.8 from one week earlier. Meanwhile, the Conventional Purchase Index decreased 9.7 percent while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) decreased 14.1 percent.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 0.1 percent. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index is down 3.1 percent, while this average is up 4.1 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 44.0percent of total applications from 51.6 percent the previous week. Additionally, the adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity decreased to 3.3 percent from 4.0 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.07 percent, while the average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.82 from 5.84 percent. However, the average contract interest rate for one-year adjustable-rate mortgages increased significantly; it jumped from 7.01 percent last week to 7.19 percent this week.