Rising mortgage rates are crushing much of the refinancing market. But Americans are still using refi to pull cash out of their homes.
More than 80% of borrowers who refinanced in the third quarter chose the “cash out” option, withdrawing $14.6 billion in equity out of their homes, according to government-sponsored mortgage corporation Freddie Mac. That is the highest share of cash-out refis since 2007.
The trend attests to the current state of the U.S. economy, which is more than nine years into an expansion that has lifted home values sharply but raised worker pay at a much slower pace. Now, many are finding their homes to be a tappable source of wealth.
Reported by Ben Eisen and Christina Rexrode NOvember 25, 2018 in the Wall Street Journal