Refinancing requests increase while housing market declines

Requests for mortgage refinancing increased 12.6 percent last week to
an eight-month peak and its highest level since May 2009, as loan
refinancing rates fell to near-record lows, according to the Mortgage
Bankers Association. Refinancing drove total mortgage applications up
by 8.8 percent, last week and nearly 77 percent of all loan requests
were for a refinancing, the highest share since April 2009. However,
refi applications were about half the level seen in the spring of
2009. The U.S. housing market continued to decline, as demand to buy
homes dropped to 13-year lows last week. Sales of new homes plunged
nearly 33 percent in May, to the lowest since record keeping began in
the early 1960s and existing home sales unexpectedly fell 2.2 percent.
[Reuters via CNBC]

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter