The mortgage loan market has had shifts over the past couple months with an up this week, down last week pattern. Within that pattern is statistics that show refinance volume has slowed while first time home buyer applications have increased.
After seeing mortgage rates increase in the first quarter of 2021, homeowners and buyers that are in the process of seeking mortgage loans were excited to see mortgage rates drop to the lowest levels seen in the past month.
Homeowners took advantage of February’s mortgage refinance interest rates below 3% with a resyktubg 68% of all mortgage loans being refinance loans. Although rates have slowly increased in March, the refinance activity is still very high.
Mortgage interest rates have begun to rise, and as a result January saw the first decrease in mortgage refinance volume since November 2020. The long running record of historically low rates may be news of the past after several weeks of rising rates.