04 Jan 12 Mortgage Application Activity Slows in the Final Week of 2011
Even as mortgage rates continued at a record pace, the demand for home loans fell in the final week of 2011. The decline in mortgage applications was not unexpected because home financing activity typically slows during the Christmas holidays. Home mortgage declined 4.1% in the final week of 2011. According to Mortgage Bankers Association, home loan purchase applications dipped 9.6% and mortgage refinancing activity declined 2.5 %.
MBA said that the average 30-year mortgage rates on conforming home loans fell to the year’s low of 4.07% from 4.10% the prior week, and well below 4.82% at the end of 2010.
Bob Moulton, president of Americana Mortgage Group in Manhasset, New York, said the company’s loian volume is off to a better start in 2012 than the same time a year ago, because more homeowners are interested in refinancing.
The slide to near-record-low borrowing rates has spurred more homeowners to seek refinancing, propelling that index up more than 60% in 2011.
But demand for home mortgages fell in the year, as borrowers struggled to come up with enough cash for down payments or stayed on the sidelines due to worries about unemployment. Read the complete Reuters article.
01 Sep 10 Home Loan Applications Rise
Home loan applications increased 2.7% last week as more American consumers took advantage of the lowest rates in decades to lower their mortgage payments. The Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday the increase was led by a 2.8% increase in refinance applications. The number of home mortgages taken out to purchase a home rose 1.8 %.
Mortgage refinance activity is at its highest level since May 2009 and makes up almost 83% of all new home mortgages, its highest share since January 2009. However, home sales continue to struggle. Buyers are sitting out because they are worried about jobs or are deterred by strict mortgage requirements. New purchase loan activity is 40% below the levels seen at the end of April, when two federal tax credits for homebuyers expired.
Home loan rates have fallen since spring as investors, worried about the health of the global economy, seek the safety of Treasury bonds. That lowered their yield, and mortgage rates tend to track those yields. The average interest rate for a 30-year mortgage with a fixed rate fell to 4.43% from 4.55% a week earlier. Rates on the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, a common refinancing option, decreased to 3.88% from 3.91%.
23 Aug 10 Home Mortgage Rates Fall to Record Lows Again
According to Freddie Mac, mortgage rates dropped this week to more record lows amid concerns about the state of the U.S. economy. Home mortgage rates on 30-year fixed-rate home loans, the most widely used loan, averaged 4.42 % this week, down from last week’s 4.44% and its year-ago level of 5.12 %, according to the survey. Home mortgage refinance loan volumes have risen for three consecutive weeks as the 30-year mortgage rates have fallen to record lows for nine straight weeks. Freddie Mac started the survey in April 1971. Meanwhile, 15-year fixed-rate home loans averaged 3.9%, down from 3.92% last week, the lowest level since Freddie Mac began surveying this loan type in 1991. 15-year mortgage rates have hit record lows for six straight weeks.
Freddie Mac said rates on 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgages, set at a fixed rate for five years and adjustable in each following year, was 3.56%, unchanged from last week, remaining at its lowest level since Freddie Mac began tracking this loan type in 2005.
Last year at this time, 15-year mortgages averaged 4.56 %; the one-year ARM was 4.69%, and the 5/1 ARM was 4.57%. Rock-bottom rates should continue to spur demand for home loan refinancing, putting extra cash into consumers’ hands that they can save, use to pay off existing debt or funnel into the economy through extra spending.
Home loan applications rose 13% in the week ended August 13th, fueled more by homeowners seeking a house refinance than by new buyers looking for loans, according to an index from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Record low interest rates have yet to spur home sales, which are being weighed down by unemployment and the end of a federally sponsored home-buyer tax credit.
29 Jul 10 Mortgage Rates Drop 4 out last 5 Weeks
Mortgage rates have steadily been falling in 2010. Yields on U.S. Treasury bonds have fallen as shaky investors look for safer investments. Mortgage rates tend to track the yields on Treasurys. Low mortgage rates helped spark a little activity in the sluggish housing market. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, home loan applications for home buying inched up 2% last week from the previous week. Mortgage refinance activity has faltered slightly over the last week even though the refinance rates were also lower on the 15 and 30-year loans. The FHA Home Loan blog reported that FHA rates dropped again last week.
Tags: refinance rates
28 Jul 10 Mortgage Refinance Activity Falls
Mortgage applicants seeking home refinancing dropped to 78% last week from 79.4% the prior week, which was the highest level since April 2009. The average mortgage refinance rate on a 15-year fixed rate home loan rose to 4.12% from 4.05%, and the mortgage rate on a 1-year adjustable rate mortgage decreased to 3.15 % from 3.17 %
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index fell 4.4% in the week ended July 23, the Washington-based group said today. The mortgage refinance measure fell 5.9% from the prior week’s one-year high, but the home purchase index did increase 2%. The average mortgage refinance rate with a 30-year fixed rate increased to 4.69% from 4.59% the prior week, which was the lowest since data began in 1990. Read the original mortgage news post online > Mortgage Refinancing Applications Drop.
16 Jul 10 Home Loan Applications Decline
The number of home loan applications in the U.S. for home purchases fell to a 13 1/2-year low last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported yesterday, in a further sign of the slump in home buying since a federal tax credit concluded at the end of April. There have been fears for months that the incentive was stealing future sales and would result in a new leg down for the housing market once the support ended. New-home sales sunk to a record in May while pending total sales tumbled 30% from April.
Home loan applications for new homes were down 43% from the Independence Day week last year, said the MBA. The bad news comes even as home mortgage rates sink to new record lows. Those rate declines have been giving some lift to applications for home refinancing, which hit a 14-month high two weeks ago. But even the MBA refinance mortgage report fell 2.9% last week from a week earlier as its gauge for purchases dropped 3.1%. The share of applications for refinance loans was flat at 78.7%.
Tags: Home Loan Applications
14 Jul 10 3rd Week of Record Low Mortgage Rates Drive Refinancing
For the third consecutive week mortgage interest rates fell to shatter records for the lowest rates in our era. Borrowers across the country seemed optimistic that conventional, FHA and VA home mortgage products were meeting their refinance needs. No one can say that the Federal Reserve, mortgage lenders and the government haven’t made a concerted effort in 2010 to aid the housing recovery nationwide.
Affordable Home Refinancing with Record Low Interest Rates
Most industry insiders believe that home purchase loan market will stay weak over the next few months as the housing market adjusts to the end of government incentives. According to Jerry Mlinar of Woodfield Planning, an Illinois mortgage lender said, “First time home buyers are motivated by low rates, but existing homeowners have a huge incentive to refinance because they stand to save significant money monthly immediately.” Mlinar confirmed that his company saw an increase in home refinance applications, but cautioned that guidelines for refinancing had tightened over the last few years. The lender said that the stated income and no equity mortgages are no longer available.
The average 30-year mortgage rate was little changed in the week ended July 9th, dipping to 4.49%. The mortgage rate rested just below the record low of 4.61% set in March 2009, according to the MBA’s records that date back to 1990. Fifteen-year mortgage rates dipped to 4.08% last week from the record low 4.06 % set the prior week. FHA and VA rates posted a rate reduction as well and more borrowers requested rate and term refinancing rather than cash out loans.
Tags: Illinois mortgage lender, Jerry Mlinar, no equity mortgages, VA home mortgage products, Woodfield Planning
05 Jul 10 Mortgage Lead Generation Improving for Brokers and Lending Companies
Representatives from mortgage companies have been complaining for years how the quality of mortgage leads has been detiriorating every time the lenders tighten the requirements and loan program guidelines. Mortgage Lead Vault (MLV) published a news article that highlighted the rise of refinance lead volumes that could be considered a positive indicator for the mortgage industry. MLV cited news sources like the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Lead Planet for the loan application statistics and mortgage lead data. In their Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, MBA reported that the Refinance Index spiked 12.6% from the previous week. They also noted that this was the most significant increase for the Refinance Index since the report for the week ending May 22, 2009.
Kevin Grant the chief economist for mortgage lead generation company, the Lead Planet said, “The refinance lead activity has been surging since the homebuyer tax credits expired at the end of April.” Grant also told MLV that “the lead quality should dramatically increase as the banks and lenders loosen up their refinance guidelines.” See the original news article> Mortgage Refinance Lead Volume Rises. Article was written by Patrick Miller
