Refinance

Mortgage interest rates dropped this week to the lowest level on record, fueling an already hot spring housing market and triggering a refinance boom in the Twin Cities.

Capacity constraints among mortgage lenders are leading to wider spreads between mortgages and the 10-year Treasury yield even after it remained below 1% for an extended period this week.

January's plummeting mortgage rates led to a spike in the share of millennials refinancing their home loans, a trend that should carry into February and March, according to Ellie Mae.

A drop in interest rates in response to the coronavirus outbreak is adding urgency to a hiring spree across the mortgage industry.

Mortgage application volume increased 15.1% from one week earlier, and with interest rates still falling, even higher refinance demand is probable in the short term, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Investors' purchases of 10-year Treasurys after the Fed's 50 basis point short-term rate cut drove the yield below 1% for a period of time.

Servicers' struggle to retain borrowers mounted in the fourth quarter when a type of loan that is tough to recapture rose to a more than 10-year high, according to Black Knight.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is shifting workers to handle an expected surge in demand for home loans as the American housing market looks forward to its strongest spring in at least a decade and the coronavirus sends mortgage rates lower.

Mortgage loan application defect risk is at the lowest point since First American started tracking this data, strictly as a function of the shift to a refinance market.

The cancellation by New Residential of a money-losing subservicing agreement should benefit Ocwen's financial results going forward, the company said.