Refinancing drives big jump in mortgage applications
New Mortgage Bankers Association research shows that record low mortgage rates have spurred a big jump in new mortgage applications.
The MBA said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications, which includes both purchase and refinance loans, increased 32 percent for the week ended March 20. Refinancing accounted for almost 79 percent of the applications.
Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 4.63 percent last week, reaching a record low, the MBA said. It has been conducting the weekly survey since 1990, and rates were well below year-ago levels of 5.74 percent.
Overall mortgage applications last week were 20 percent above their year-ago level. The four-week moving average of mortgage applications, which smoothes out the volatile weekly figures, was up 14 percent.
The MBA’s seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications surged 42 percent from the week before. The index was up 50 percent from its year-ago level.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/03/23/daily33.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment