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MBA: Refinance Loan Applications Fall 16.8%. Purchase Apps Decline 7.6% - The Mortgage Bankers Association today released the Weekly Survey on Mortgage Application Activity for the week ending October 16, 2009.

Housing is a key component of economic forecasts, thus real estate surveys and housing data are closely scrutinized by policy makers.

In the week ending October 9, rising mortgage rates slowed the pace of new loan applications. The average 30 year fixed mortgage rate rose to 5.02% and the refinance index fell by 0.1% while the purchase index dropped 5.0%. In week prior to October 9, new application activity increased 16.4% as mortgage rates fell below 5.00% to five month lows.

In today's release, which reports on the week ending October 16, mortgage application activity fell 13.7% as mortgage rates rose from 5.02% to 5.07%.

State of Housing: Tax Credit Must Be Extended to Sustain Stability - With the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit due to expire in little more than a month, the Congress is looking into the possibility of extending it for another six months and perhaps even expanding the program's reach.

The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on Tuesday as part of its consideration of a proposal to extend the November 30 end date of the homebuyers' tax credit and possibly extend it beyond first-time buyers.