Mortgage Applications Up as Home Buyers See a Break in Rates
Low mortgage interest rates are buoying the housing market even as experts are debating whether the market has hit bottom.
The recent decline in rates has been relatively small, and there is still concern that the slump will worsen in the spring when more homes come on the market. But the low rates, real estate and mortgage brokers say, have still provided a significant boost to their business, which had dropped significantly from 2005, the best year for home sales in history.
Lower rates get “them off the fence,” said Tom Carlson, an agent at Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate in San Francisco. “There’s a sense of urgency that mortgage rates probably will rise.”