The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is up 1 percent to 567.1 from 561.4. The four week moving average is up 1.6 percent to 389.5 from 383.4 for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 0.1 percent to 1602.4 from 1600 for the Refinance Index.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 5.3 percent to 410.2 from 389.7 the previous week and the Refinance Index increased by 0.1 percent to 1597 from 1594.7 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which increased by 3.8 percent to 870.8 from 838.7 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased 6 percent to 106.2 from 112.1 the previous week.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 40.3 percent of total applications from 41.0 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 25.5 percent of total applications from 26.2 percent the previous week. The ARM share is at its lowest level since October 2003.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.32 percent from 6.31 percent, with points decreasing to 1.06 from 1.10 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.96 percent from 5.91 percent, with points decreasing to 0.82 from 0.83 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The spread between the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate and the one-year ARM rate is 36 basis points. This is the narrowest it has been since January 2001.

Edwina Baniqued