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18% of Homeowners Will Refinance this Year

  • March 25th 2009

by Mark Wellborn

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18% of Homeowners Will Refinance this Year: Figure 1

Because of historically low interest rates, 18 percent of all U.S. households with mortgages will refinance this year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Jay Brinkmann, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association said that rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are likely to be in the 4.6 percent to 4.75 percent range through the summer.

So how much could a home owner save by refinancing? From The Journal:

“For a person with a $230,000 mortgage, refinancing to a 4.75% rate from 6% would yield savings of about $180 a month, Mr. Brinkmann said. But the best rates aren’t available to all borrowers; higher costs apply to those with credit scores that are average or below, and those with high debts in relation to home values.”

Brinkmann estimates that 9.5 million households will refinance their mortgages this year. To put that in perspective, the total number of households with mortgages in the U.S. is about 52 million.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/18_of_homeowners_will_refinance_this_year/712.

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