In Brief: Mortgage Group Says Refis Up 44% in Week

The number of homeowners refinancing mortgages jumped 44% last week, as interest rates reached their lowest point in eight months, according to Wednesday's Mortgage Bankers Association refinance index.

The index hit 1924.0 last week, its highest since mid-January, up from 1331.5 the previous week, and from an average of 525.7 for all of last year.

Last week's interest rate dip is expected to spark another full-fledged refinancing boom. Analysts say that mortgage lenders and mortgage-backed securities investors are in for a repeat of what happened in the refinancing boom earlier this year, when some MBS investors were hard hit by poorly paying securities.

The association also reported that the delinquency rates on mortgage loans fell to 4.33% in the second quarter, down from 4.47% in the prior quarter.

Delinquency rates were down in all three major loan types in the second quarter, the association said.

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