By Kristena Hansen
Phoenix Business Journal
The combination of surging home prices, record-low mortgage rates and the recent launch of two government-backed mortgage programs is driving a refinance boom in metro Phoenix, according to a report released this week by Grand Canyon Title in Phoenix.
The number of home refinance closings throughout Valley in July — roughly 11,500 total — is a whopping 128 percent hike since January, according to the report, which gathers its data from CoreLogic Marketrac.
Refinance closings — which are when borrowers pay-off their existing mortgage with a new mortgage for the same property — have also steadily increased each month so far this year in metro Phoenix, the report said.
Fletcher Wilcox, the report’s author and vice president of business development for Grand Canyon Title, said the spike is being driven largely by homeowners taking advantage of favorable market conditions.
For example, Phoenix-area home values have jumped by nearly 30 percent.
since last year, according to June figures from Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, while Freddie Mac reported interest rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage were at an all-time low in July of 3.49 percent.
Also:
Foreclosures still make up large percentage of home sales/Phoenix Business Journal
