Early July Mortgage Loan Refinancing Nearly Doubles

Mortgage refinancing activity almost doubled in early July from a month earlier after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates to support the recovery, an official of the Mortgage Bankers Assn. of America said Tuesday.

“Lenders are seeing a significant increase in loan application volume,” said Warren Lasko, executive vice president of the association.

The group’s weekly survey of lenders found that 60% of new loan applications in the week ending July 10 were for refinancing, almost double the 33% reported a month earlier.

During the previous week, about 40% of the applications were for refinancing.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage tumbled to 8% in the latest survey versus 8.4% in June. The decline came after the Fed lowered rates July 2 in response to an unexpected jump in June’s unemployment rate to 7.8%.