Record Low Mortgage Rates Keep Refinancing Applications High

Record low mortgage rates--which fell to 4.61 percent--have kept refinancing application levels high, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in its most recent survey. For the week ending March 27, the trade group's index measuring mortgage application volume increased 3 percent from the previous week.

The Refinance Index increased 3.7 percent to 6600.1 from 6363.2 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.1 percent to 268.0 from 267.8 one week earlier…

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 79.1 percent of total applications from 78.5 percent the previous week…

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.61 percent from 4.63 percent, with points decreasing to 1.03 from 1.13 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The contract rate is a new record low for the survey, which began in 1990.