Mortgage Bankers Association projects fewer mortgage originations, home sales

The Mortgage Bankers Association has lowered its projection for number of mortgage originations in 2009 to $2.03 trillion, a $700 billion drop from its previous forecast, according to a press release issued by the organization yesterday. The drop is due to a decline in both purchase originations and refinancings, and the MBA expects purchase originations to total about $737 billion and refinancings about $1.297 trillion. MBA also projected home sales of 4.8 million units in 2009, a 1.2 percent drop from 2008. Approximately 352,000 of those will be new home sales, a 27 percent decline from 2008. TRD