Released: January 19, 2008

Want to refinance: Don’t sit around

Source: Kenneth Harney, Washington Post (Free Registration)

Is it a refi renaissance? Or a fast-closing window of opportunity?

Nobody can say for certain, but there’s no doubt about this: Thanks to the lowest mortgage interest rates in a year and a half, nearly 60 percent of all new mortgage applications by mid-January were for refinancings, according to data compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Rates this week were 5.69 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and 5.21 percent for a 15-year fixed-rate loan, Freddie Mac said.

Some home-loan companies reported much higher proportions of refinancings. At Associated Mortgage Group in Portland, Ore., 80 percent of new applications this month have been for refinancings.

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