Will April 2020 Mortgage Refinance Applications Hold Strong?

Apr 13, 2020

Mortgage refinance application. Credit: iStock.com/billoxford

Director of Events

Mortgage refinance applications have been one of the saving graces of the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the number of refinance applications continuing to dip, they have been up well over 100 percent from the previous year. The question is: will April mortgage refinance applications hold strong?

"Now that April is underway refinances have started to see declines from one week to the next but they are still leaps and bounds ahead of where they were last year around this time," according to Forbes.

"Looking back at last week, even though they dropped 19 percent from the week before they were still 144 percent higher than the same week in 2019, according to the weekly report from the Mortgage Bankers Association."

Luckily, the industry is still seeing fluctuation in mortgage rates, with overall averages still trending on the low side. This has led to the strong number of refinance applications.

"Even though things are going to tighten up yet again as more layoffs occur, there is enough time to implement all the contingency plans to prevent a complete collapse," according to the report.

"What has saved us so far is nimble lenders that have been able to attract enough people who still have liquidity and want to take advantage of low rates and homes they don’t have to haggle over. Let’s hope they keep it going."

About the author

Navi Persaud

Director of Events

Navi Persaud is Director of Events at NMP.

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Apr 13, 2020

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