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Wednesday August 21, 7:38 am Eastern Time
Reuters Market News
Americans file mortgage requests in record numbers
(Add details, background)
NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Americans flooded banks and mortgage lenders
with a record number of home loan applications last week to lock in some of
the lowest mortgage interest rates ever to refinance or to buy a home, a U.S.
industry trade group reported on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT
The Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBA) said its weekly gauge of
mortgage application volume rose to a record high of 1,127.4 for the week
ended Aug. 16, up 11.4 percent from the prior week. The latest mortgage
market reading beat the previous high set just two weeks ago at 1,066.9.
Historically low mortgage rates have enabled more people to afford a home
even in a sluggish economic recovery. They have also enticed homeowners to
refinance their mortgages into loans with lower interest rates or into bigger
loans by leveraging their equity on their homes.
Given this huge demand, the U.S. mortgage industry is on track to issue a
record $2.2 trillion in new mortgages this year, surpassing the all-time high
of $2 trillion set last year, according to Fannie Mae, the No. 1 U.S. home
finance provider.
MBA's seasonally adjusted mortgage refinancing index rose to its second
highest level ever to 5,523.6, up 14 percent from the prior week. It was
slightly below the all-time high of 5,534.5 in the week ended Nov. 9, 2001.
MBA's seasonally adjusted mortgage purchase index last week rose 5.3 percent
from the prior week to 371.6.
REFINANCING LEADS THE WAY
Although loan demand for home purchases has been firm this week, buttressing
the U.S. housing market, much of the new mortgage applications filed in
recent weeks have been for refinancing, according to the latest MBA data.
The share of refinancing requests was 70.8 percent last week, up from
previous week's 68.8 percent.
The refinancing reading was more than double the level a year earlier.
Also, the refinancing index has been running above the 2,000 mark, a
threshold considered by analysts for the mortgage industry to experience a
refinance "boom," for nine consecutive weeks, approaching a 12-week streak
that ran from late September to early December last year.
MORTGAGE RATES NOTCH UP FROM RECORD LOWS
Mortgage rates, as measured by the mortgage group, finished above their
record lows set the two weeks ago, as a result of a Friday's bond market sell-
off when bargain-hunters sent stock prices sharply higher.
Yields on U.S. government bonds are the rate benchmarks for most U.S.
mortgages.
Average interest rate, excluding lender fees, on 30-year fixed-rate
mortgages
