Refinancing activity was very strong in the fourth quarter, even with higher interest rates. The large share of borrowers who took cash out when refinancing their mortgages combined with the strong overall refinance volume led to an extraction of home equity through prime first-lien refinances of 70.3 billion, slightly higher than the revised estimate of 67.2 billion extracted in the third quarter. We expect the share of all refinance borrowers who take out cash to remain high in 2006 because of the relatively high cost of second mortgages and home-equity lines of credit.
Quotes about home-equity (6 Quotes)
One reason why homeowners may be willing to increase the mortgage rate on their first-lien mortgage is because interest rates on most home-equity lines of credit have been pushed up again as the Fed increased short-term interest rates in January and March, which in turn pushed up the prime rate.
As interest rates go up, people are going to find it more loath to take out home-equity lines of credit. Consumers are not going to feel as anxious to tap into their home values.
A slowdown is baked in the cake, ... A big part of economic growth has been driven by consumer home-equity loans and if home prices are subdued, you won't have more loans driving spending.
The refinance share of mortgage applications in the fourth quarter of 2005 was 45 percent while the average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages climbed 0.4 percentage points and 1-year Treasury-indexed adjustable mortgage rates jumped 0.6 percentage points from third-quarter averages. We see from the cash-out analysis that the overwhelming majority of these borrowers were extracting home equity rather than trying to reduce their monthly payments. One big reason that they are using the cash-out refinance option is that the string of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve Board have pushed the rates on home-equity loans up. Home-equity loans are typically linked to the prime rate, which currently is at 7.5 percent. In contrast, the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages is presently near 6.25 percent.
For consumers, the home-equity fountain of youth is about to dry up.