Mortgage Activity At 5 Year High – Refinances Dominate
While real estate agents had lots of time for Christmas shopping this year, mortgage brokers probably gave lots of gift cards as mortgage activity reached a 5 year high.
With the historically low rates and consumers watching every penny, refinancing was the word on the street.
Now we can hope that some of this activity translates to home sales as the great prognosticators in Washington have predicted.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday its weekly application index was essentially unchanged for the week ending Dec. 26. The index came in at 1245.7 from 1245.4 a week earlier. Applications surged earlier this month to the highest level since July 2003, when refinancing activity boomed at the peak of the housing market.
Story continues below ?advertisement | your ad hereMore than 80 percent of applications came from borrowers looking to refinance at more affordable rates, the trade group said. Refinance volume dipped by 0.4 percent, while purchase volume rose 1.4 percent. via msnbc.com.
I like your analogy in this article. The real estate economy really is like a patient who you cannot ...
Real Estate is hyper-local. Every market is different. Phoenix has already hit bottom and is starting to recover. We have ...
Great to hear that the big boys
are predicting recovery sooner than
most think.
Thanks for the value! 
I agree--good analogy. You have to crawl before you can walk. Right now, at least in Austin, many people would ...
I live in the Philippines and I am glad we are not on the lists... 
I have a few Litograghs of Presidents homes , made by Richard V. Sebring. yr. 1990 Do they have any ...
I see the question I have, but no response. I do not have a for sale sign up ...
I'll add mine to the list too. This is happening in Kansas City, Missouri as well now.
We already knew ...
Comment by CompeteRealty on 2 January 2009:
This is the start of where the market can begin to level out.
Home owners will start to be able to afford their homes much easier. Then the number of foreclosures on the market will slowly start to diddle down as new buyers come along and buy up what’s currently for sale.
Comment by Eric on 2 January 2009:
I think the overall interest in refinancing was definately high recently. However the problem is that although the rates dropped, many borrowers could not refinance because their home values dropped. Their new loan to value ratios were pushed up over 80% and their refinance would require PMI, thus wiping out much of the reduction in monthly interest.
Comment by Mortgage on 3 January 2009:
With mortgage rates poised to drop to 4.5 percent all we need now is some tax incentives to help home sales.