Mortgage Demand Down

Hat tip to Northern VA for spotting this one, a story from Reuters via Yahoo News:

Demand for new mortgage loans from major U.S. banks declined in recent months, while lending standards were little changed, a Federal Reserve survey of bank officers released on Monday found.

"Almost one-fourth of domestic institutions reported a decline in demand" for mortgages used to purchase homes, the Fed said in summarizing findings from its quarterly senior loan officer survey.

The Fed said the drop in demand for new mortgages, which had risen in the prior three months, could reflect a falloff in mortgage refinancing activity, which some lenders might find difficult to separate from loans for home purchases.

Read the rest of the brief story at this link.

— The Boy in the Big Housing Bubble