Mortgage activity rises in tri-state area in 2012

OVERALL MORTGAGE ACTIVITY rose in 2012 in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut, with Massachusetts mortgage activity reaching a five-year high.  / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/TY WRIGHT
OVERALL MORTGAGE ACTIVITY rose in 2012 in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut, with Massachusetts mortgage activity reaching a five-year high. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/TY WRIGHT

BOSTON – Overall mortgage activity reached a five-year high in Massachusetts in 2012, with refinance mortgages dominating 83 percent of the market share, according to new data from The Warren Group’s Mortgage MarketShare Module.

The tri-state area boasted strong regeneration of mortgage enterprises, with total activity rising nearly 23 percent in Rhode Island and 26 percent in Connecticut from 2011 to 2012.

Massachusetts residential mortgages bustled for the first time since 2007, rising nearly 38 percent in 2012 from the year prior, while refinance mortgages rose 41 percent – up to 220 per day throughout the year. The incidence of purchase mortgages also grew by 25 percent, the best recorded year since the housing bubble.

“Single-family home sales have increased for 13 consecutive months, a sure sign the housing market is in recovery mode,” Marie Wentling, director of product strategy at The Warren Group, said in a release. She added that existing residential borrowers sought lower interest rates and government assistance through mortgage refinance, while original mortgage purchases also rose.

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Rhode Island saw the weakest mortgage activity growth year-over-year in 2011-2012 in the tri-state area, with refinances rising approximately 25 percent. The state also saw less than a thousand new mortgage purchases over that year, increasing less than 13 percent. Refinance activity, which comprised nearly 83 percent of all mortgages in the state in 2012, rose by 8,763 in 2012.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, refinances comprise about 82 percent of all mortgage applications nationwide.

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