Mortgage Activity Surges 23%

2012 has already treated us with good news for real estate professionals AND potential home buyers!

According to an article today on Reuters, applications for home mortgages have surged more than 20% as a result of low mortgage rates.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the low rates haved fueled a huge increase in both refinancing and home purchase demand, causing a 23.1 percent increase in mortgage application activity in the week ending January 13th.

That number breaks down into a 26.4 percent increase in refinancing applications, and a 10.3 percent rise in loan requests for home purchases.

Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president of research and economics, stated that, “With mortgage rates reaching new lows, refinance volume jumped. Purchase activity also increased as buyers returned to the market after the holiday season.”

The percent of refinancing rose to 82.2 percent of total mortgage activity, which is now the highest refinancing share since October, 2010.

Please comment and share your thoughts on how this affects YOUR real estate marketing strategy!