Home Mortgage Financing

Falling Mortgage Rates Continue to Boost Housing Affordability

Mortgage rates fell once again this week, making this their sixth straight week of decline and their lowest point since September 2017. This is good news for prospective home buyers, as the drop in rates has generated a corresponding increase in home affordability across the country. It also means that millions of current home owners stand to save thousands of dollars by refinancing their mortgages!

Almost 5 Million Homeowners Could Save by Refinancing

If you currently have a mortgage, then now is the perfect time to look into refinancing. In fact, a report from last week by data and analytics company Black Knight determined that 4.9 million U.S. homeowners could significantly reduce their interest rates if they were to refinance their mortgage! This number spiked dramatically from just one week prior, rising by 1.6 million borrowers.

Don't Be Afraid to Refinance Your Loan

Homeowners consistently fail to refinance their mortgages, even when doing so could save them thousands of dollars in interest. This is the finding made by researchers at Columbia Business School whose work was recently published in The Review of Financial Studies. After examining mortgage refinancing data from November 2011 through March 2013, the researchers determined that 51% of homeowners who received preapproval applications through the Home Affordable Refinance Program chose not to apply, a decision which cost them each nearly $9,000 in savings.