The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, for the week ending August 29, 2008, today. The new stats show mortgage applications increased for the second consecutive week. The application volume index last week rose to 453.1, a seasonally adjusted 7.5 percent gain over the previous week when the index was 421.6. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 5.8 percent compared to the previous week and was down 27.0 percent compared to the same week a year ago.

The MBA also reported the following key statistics (percentage changes reflect comparison to the previous week):
-Refinance Index: 1059.7, up 2.1 percent
-Purchase Index = 349.0, an increase of 10.5 percent
-Conventional Purchase Index increased 6.1 percent
-Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) rose by 19.9 percent

The four-week moving average for the seasonally adjusted market index measuring application volume is up by 1.2 percent, MBA said. The same calculation for the seasonally adjusted purchase index is up 2.7 percent, while the moving average of the refinance index over the four-week period is down 1.5 percent.

Based on MBA's survey results, the refinance share of mortgage activity dropped last week to 34.0 percent of total applications, from 34.8 percent the previous week. Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) were also down, making up only 6.6 percent of total applications.

The MBA provided the following data on mortgage interest rates, for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans:
-Average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.39 percent from 6.44 percent last week, with points and fees decreasing to 1.0
-Average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.96 percent from 5.94 percent, with points and fees dropping to 1.03
-Average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs decreased to 7.11 percent from 7.15 percent, with points and fees decreasing to 0.35

To view the full survey results from MBA, click here.