Mortgage Application Activity Hits 28-Year Lows

Mortgage Application Activity Hits 28-Year Lows

A powerful hurricane and an approaching three-day weekend may have offset the impact of an improvement in interest rates during the week ended September 1. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, failed to extend its first increase since mid-July into a second week. The Index decreased 2.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis and 5.0 percent before adjustment.    The Refinance Index decreased 5 percent from the previous week and was 30 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity dipped to 30.0 percent of total applications from 30.1 percent. [refiappschart] The Purchase Index was down 2.0 percent and 5.0 percent on seasonally adjusted and unadjusted bas