How Walmart gains from falling mortgage rates
As mortgage rates continue to fall, the housing market is changing for the better -- just look at retail giant Walmart, one New York-based real estate powerhouse said.
“The refinances are terrific,” Dolly Lenz, the CEO of Dolly Lenz Real Estate, told FOX Business' Dagen McDowell. “People have lots more money in their pockets and Walmart is proof they're spending the money that they're saving on all their refinances. It really makes a huge difference in people's confidence in the general marketplace.”
Weekly mortgage refinances are up 37 percent for the week and 81 percent compared to a year ago at this time. And mortgage application volume rose 21.7 percent last week compared to the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Lenz noted that while homebuyers still need to have good credit banks are “stepping up” and “trying to find ways to get to the loan.”
Lenz also said that banks are doing “also doing their usual offers … that are not necessarily fixed.”
“I don't know [if] the 30-year is really the benchmark. I think people stay in homes seven years [on] average. So if they get a 10-year loan that's great -- meaning a 30-year payment but a 10-year rate -- that's good enough for most people,” she explained.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
And for the nervous refinancer, Lenz also provided a bit of insight:
“I think the banks are more careful and I think consumers are more careful,” she said. “A lot of consumers got burned [by the housing crisis] … but this new offering that perhaps will get loans at 3.5 percent down, I think is amazing.”