Applications for
both refinancing and purchase mortgages retreated last week, pulling the
Mortgage Bankers Associations (MBA's) Market Composite Index lower for the
second time in as many weeks. MBA said the index, a measure of application
volume, declined by 1.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week
ended June 26 and was down 2.0 percent on an unadjusted basis. While the
Refinance Index ticked down 2 percent from the week ended June 19, low interest
rates kept the refinancing volume 74 percent higher than the same week one year
ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 61.2 percent of
total applications from 61.3 percent the previous week. The seasonally
adjusted Purchase Index dipped 1 percent and the unadjusted version was down 2
percent compared with the previous week. Volume was still 15 percent higher
than the same week one year ago.