Mortgage refinancing at its highest level in three years, fueled by low rates

NEW YORK – Lenders are inundated with mortgage refinancing requests at a rate never seen since 2016, while US homeowners are eager to take advantage of recent rate cuts.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, a professional group, said its home loan refinance application gauge had risen 0.4% last week from the previous week, reaching its highest level since July 2016. 39, was the fourth consecutive increase.

The advance came as the 30-year mortgage rates secured by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac dropped to 3.9 percent, the lowest level since November 2016, according to the MBA. Faced with growing fears of a possible slowdown in global economic growth, borrowing costs are shrinking.

"Many people who have bought a home in the last three years are very careful to see if they will save money by refinancing," said Jeff Tucker, an economist with Zillow Group Real Estate Data.

As of August 8, about 10 million homeowners could reduce their mortgage rates by at least 0.75 percentage points by refinancing, which would save about $ 267 a month, according to the analyst firm Black Knight. It's a long way from last year when rates went up and banks reduced the number of mortgage creditors. In 2018, refinancing applications followed by the MBA reached their lowest level in almost two decades.

Mortgage applications to buy homes fell 4% last week, which helped reduce the overall volume of mortgage applications by 0.9%, according to the MBA. The overall volume has increased by about 70% since the end of last year.