Posted by Kari on March 21, 2012 16:25
In the wake of a drop of homeowners attempting to refinance their home loan, mortgage records show that overall mortgage application activity declined during the week ending March 16.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Application Activity, activity declined 7.4 percent, marking a sixth consecutive week of declines. Meanwhile, the refinancing share dipped 9.3 percent, as it accounted for 73.4 percent of all activity. This is the lowest the refinancing share has been since July 2011.
"With the rate increase last week, refinances are obviously slowing, and the refinance share at 73 percent is down to its lowest level since last July," said MBA senior vice president of research and education Jay Brinkmann. "With rate/term refinances falling as we go forward, HARP will be a bigger percentage of refinances but will be more concentrated in certain states."
The report found that most of the refinancing activity was concentrated in states that have had elevated rates of foreclosure during recent years, such as Nevada, Arizona and Florida. It was noted that refinances were generally flat across the rest of the country.
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