Mortgage applications filed last week rose a seasonally adjusted 4.7%, increasing even as interest rates charged on home loans experienced an upturn from the week before, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.
Filings to refinance existing loans increased 3.2% for the week ended April 3 compared with the week before, while mortgage applications to buy homes rose a seasonally adjusted 11.1%, also on a week-to-week basis, the MBA's latest survey showed. The survey covers about half of all U.S. retail mortgage applications.
The four-week moving average for all mortgages was up 13.3%, mainly reflecting strength in refinancing activity, according to the Washington-based MBA.
Overall, applications last week jumped an unadjusted 67.6% compared with the same week in 2008.
The MBA's latest results show a continuation of the trend seen recently as more people test the waters in the aftermath of the government's moves to stimulate activity in the housing market.
“I suspect that we are coming to the end of the housing downturn, as applications for new mortgages, the most important series, have flattened out. I think that the worse of this may well be over.” - Alan Greenspan, October 1, 2006
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
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