Refinance Applications Jump 17 Percent

By:
Kirk Haverkamp | August 18, 2010
Applications to refinance an existing mortgage surged last week, hitting their highest point since May 2009.
 
Refinance applications jumped 17.1 percent for the week, according to the weekly survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association, as rates rose slightly from the previous week’s record lows. The jump shows a renewed interest by homeowners in refinancing, after four weeks of relatively weak refinance activity despite declining interest rates.
 
Meanwhile, home purchase mortgage applications fell 3.4 percent, breaking a run of four consecutive weeks of small increases. The decline left the four-week moving average for purchase applications at a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent, while the four-week figure for refinance applications was up 3.2 percent.
 
Mortgage refinances made up 81.4 percent of all mortgage applications last week, up from 78.1 percent previously. The MBA doesn’t report data on mortgage approvals, so it’s not clear how many of those applications actually result in homeowners being able to refinance their mortgages.
 
Average interest rates on both the 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased slightly in the current MBA survey. The 30-year loan rose to an average of 4.60 percent, up from 4.57 percent previously, while the 15-year loan rose to an average rate of 3.99 percent, up from 3.95 percent.
 
The MBA weekly survey covers about half of all U.S. mortgage applications each week.

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