Mortgage Loan Rates Fall to 7.4: 18-Month Low for Region Likely to Spur Refinances
7.4	percent in the Washington area this week, their lowest level in 18 months, and lending experts said they expect rates to remain at or below 8 percent for the rest of the year.</br></br>ÛÏMortgage applications are running pretty high now, which tells me we'll continue to have a healthy mortgage market through the summer and into the fall," said David Lereah, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, a trade group.</br></br>ÛÏMy near-term forecast [nationally] is for rates to range between 7.25 and 7.75 in August and September," he said. ?My longterm forecast is to expect rates to move between 7.75 and 8 from October through December."</br></br>Because of competition among lenders here, rates traditionally have been slightly lower in the Washington area. They have reached the lowest level since February 1996, when the average was 7.17 percent, according to HSH Associates of Butler, N.J., which conducts weekly surveys of 2,500 lenders throughout the United States. During the past 18 months, rates here have hugged 8 percent, with a peak at 8.33 percent in June 1996.</br></br>Across the nation the average rate is 7.6 percent, generated by a wave of bright economic news, strong housing sales and vibrant consumer confidence, HSH said. This also is the lowest rate since February 1996, when it reached 7.33 percent.