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		Home Page Mortgage News You Can Use Home refinancings fall to 18-month low 'Cash-out' loan value down by half in last quarter of 2003 11:01 PM CST on Thursday, February 5, 2004 Bloomberg News The amount of money raised by turning home equity into cash fell by half in the last three months of the year from a record in the third quarter as refinancing dropped to an 18-month low. A decline in refinancing prompted by higher mortgage rates put the dollar volume of the "cash-out" loans at $135.6 billion, down from $277.2 billion. The share of refinanced loans with balances at least 5 percent higher than the original mortgage widened to 45 percent from 34 percent, according to a report from mortgage financier Freddie Mac. Cash-outs have buoyed the economy by giving homeowners the ability to spend on home renovations, cars and vacations. As the amount of money taken out of a home's value falls, consumer spending will be helped by an improving economy, said Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City Corp. in Cleveland. Refinancing fell 63 percent to $301.4 billion in the fourth quarter from a record $815.3 billion in the third quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The drop in refinancing came as the average U.S. rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 5.83 percent in the fourth quarter from 5.66 percent in the third quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors in Washington. U.S. home prices appreciated 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, slowing from a 10 percent pace in the third quarter, according to NAR.   Back to Original Article: Mortgage News You Can Use   Continue with: New Fed Policy To Change Housing GSEs' Cash Use
		Bad Credit Mortgage Refinance