Mortgage applications declined for the second week in two national surveys.

For the week ending October 23, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly survey of gross applications decreased 12.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to one-week prior.

Mortgage Maxx’s weekly survey, a measure of mortgage applications adjusted to reflect the number of households that applied for loans, was down 2% in the same time period.

MBA’s refinance index decreased 16.2% and the purchase index decreased 5.2%. Refinance mortgages took a 62.3% share of all applications, down from 65% the previous week. Adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 6.9% of all applications, up from 6.4%.

“Mortgage applications may be commencing their final deceleration of 2009,” Mortgage Maxx wrote in its report. “The holiday effect [the decline in home buying activity during the November-December holiday season] is a few short weeks away while mortgage rates are moving higher and the window on the $8000 first time buyer incentive is quickly closing."

Write to Austin Kilgore.