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Mortgage application activity went into hibernation for the last weeks of 2012, according to data from the ""Mortgage Bankers Association"":http://www.mbaa.org/default.htm (MBA).
[IMAGE]The association's Weekly Mortgage Application Survey for the two weeks ending December 21 and December 28, 2012, showed a 21.6 percent decline in total mortgage [COLUMN_BREAK]
applications compared to the week ending December 14. The results include an adjustment to account for the Christmas holiday.
The decrease was driven by a substantial decline in refinance applications, according to the survey. The Refinance Index fell 23.3 percent from December 14 to December 28, dropping to its lowest level since April 2012. However, the refinance share of mortgage activity remained flat for those two weeks, hovering at 82 percent.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index also plummeted, falling 14.8 percent compared to its mid-December levels.
The MBA's survey results come one day after ""Capital Economics"":http://www.capitaleconomics.com/ released a ""report"":https://themreport.com/articles/mortgage-applications-rise-to-close-2012-2013-01-02 showing a 3.0 percent rise in applications from November to December.
According to the MBA's measures, the average contract interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.52 percent for the week ending December 28, up a single basis point from the previous week and two basis points from the December 14 reading.
