Dropping home loan rates helped drive demand for home loans last week and encouraged homeowners to reduce their monthly payments. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s measure of refinance loans rose 9% in the week ended May 6, the biggest increase in two months. MBA said the Home purchase mortgage applications increased 6.7%.
On My 20th, the National Association of Realtors said, “The U.S. housing market is struggling to recover as unemployment hovers at 9%. House prices dropped in 118 of 153 cities as foreclosures that sell at cut-rate prices devalued real estate. According to Freddie Mac the average rate for a 30-year fixed home mortgage is below where it was last year at this time, when it was 4.93%. It fell to a record 4.17% in November.