Saturday, December 6, 2008

Mortgage Applications More than Double

Mortgage applications more than doubled in the holiday week ended Nov. 28, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday, as government bailouts led to sinking interest rates.

In the weekly report, the Market Composite Index - the association's measure of mortgage loan application volume - surged 112.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week earlier.

On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 51.4% from the previous week; it was down 21.9% from a year earlier, the report said. Results include an adjustment to account for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Rates plummeted following the Fed's announcement that it would buy debt and mortgage-backed securities from mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to Orawin Velz, associate vice president of economic forecasting, in a statement.

Read the entire article here.


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