Holiday hiatus for mortgage applications?
Mortgage applications dropped during the Thanksgiving holiday week, even after adjusting for the vacation day, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
For the third week in a row, during the week ending Nov. 26, 2010, the number of refinancing applications decreased, this time by 21.6 percent. The MBA’s Refinance Index dropped to the lowest point since June 2010.
It may be that homeowners’ attention is focused on the holiday season rather than a home refinance, or the decrease could be related to the slight increase in mortgage rates. The refinance share of mortgage applications decreased to 74.9 percent of all home loan applications.
According to HSH.com, the average rate for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans last week was 4.78 percent with 0.25 points, higher than October’s average of 4.64 percent with 0.26 points.
While you may be tempted to postpone refinancing a mortgage until 2011, you may want to think about acting sooner, considering the potential for further increases in mortgage rates.
