The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Nov. 15. The survey helps generate summary reports that show the status of application data and mortgage rates. It also incorporates 15 indices that cover other mortgage-related data.

The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. The value for all indexes was set March 16, 1990, which is when the index was set to 100.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 2.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week. The results include an adjustment to account for the Veterans Day holiday. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 13 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index decreased 7 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 6 percent from the previous week. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 8 percent compared with the previous week and was 3 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 64 percent of total applications from 66 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 7 percent of total applications.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to 4.46 percent from 4.44 percent, with points decreasing to 0.38 from 0.44 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) decreased to 4.47 percent from 4.48 percent, with points decreasing to 0.22 from 0.34 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 4.14 percent from 4.16 percent, with points decreasing to 0.25 from 0.32 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages was unchanged at 3.52 percent, with points increasing to 0.33 from 0.27 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from the previous week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 3.12 percent from 3.11 percent, with points increasing to 0.37 from 0.27 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from the previous week.