With Interest Rates Down, Refinancings Hit Seven-Month High
By Daniela Deane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Dean Cinkala is a serial refinancer.
He has refinanced the mortgage on his house in Potomac so often over the past few years that he has lost track of how many times he has gone through the process.
"It's the fourth or fifth time," Cinkala said. "I can't even remember. I'm just continually trying to drop my interest rate." Cinkala just locked in a rate of 4.88 percent on a 15-year mortgage, edging his interest rate down from 5.13 percent. He opted for a no-cost refinancing, didn't tap into any of his built-up home equity and didn't extend the length of his previous mortgage.
"Chasing rates has become a game," said Doug Duncan, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington. "There are people out there who are refinancing for the fifth time in three years."
The great American rate chase has heated up again over the last month as mortgage rates have dropped. According to statistics released yesterday by the bankers group, refinancing last week hit a seven-month high. Average 30-year rates have been at a seven-month low of 5.58 percent for the past two weeks, according to secondary mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Rates have been below 6 percent since mid-December, although they haven't dipped quite as far as the 40-plus-year low point of last spring.
Kevin Dunn, a mortgage banker for FNMC Mortgage in Wheaton, said his office has had "a lot more refinancing calls in the last two weeks."
The recent dip flew in the face of many economists' predictions.
"We expected rates to be higher now," Duncan said. "Most people did."
So what happened?
"We should thank the Bank of Japan for these low rates," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's. It has been "the single biggest influence."
