The Recent (Lightning Fast) Rise in Rates Slams Refi Pipelines; Is the Party Over?
June 27, 2013
Over the past two weeks, mortgage lenders have seen their application volumes and origination pipelines get whipsawed by rising interest rates. But it’s not the run-up in rates, per se, that set off alarm bells in the industry. It’s how fast rates climbed. As Inside Mortgage Finance went to press this week, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was at roughly 2.60 percent. On a historical basis, that’s an attractive rate – and as many lenders have pointed out: consumers can still obtain a 30-year fixed-rate conventional loan at 4 percent, depending on the points paid. But a month ago, the 10-year Treasury was...