The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) released their third quarter report on Alaska housing indicators. It tracks new loan activity for single family homes and condominiums in Alaska. The data is based on a survey representing approximately 95% of mortgage lenders in Alaska and also includes AHFC loans.
It reported 6,014 loans were originated statewide for single family homes and condominiums for a total amount of $1.5 billion. This is an increase compared to 5,538 loans for $1.37 billion in the first nine months of 2011. 2012 loans were done with an average down payment of 10%, in line with the last two years. Single family homes accounted for 89% of statewide mortgage lending activity, with 55% of those loans occurring in Anchorage. The Mat-Su contributed 14% of the volume, 11% in Fairbanks, 7% in Kenai, 5% in Juneau, 1% in Kodiak, and 1% in Ketchikan.
Condos account for the remaining 11% of the total loans with 90% of condos being financed in Anchorage. Juneau accounted for 3%, while Fairbanks and the Mat-Su accounted for less than 2% each. Additionally, there were 362 units of multi-family housing financed by 66 loans in the first nine months of 2012.
30 year conventional fixed interest rate mortgage loans have been getting less expensive for the past three decades. In 1981, they peaked at 16.6% and have undergone a slow and steady decline ever since. In early 2009 rates dipped under 5% on average for the first time, and a surge in refinance activity began.
According to AHFC statistics there was less than $200 million in refinance loans completed per quarter in Alaska in 2006 and 2007. In 2008, the average rose to $400 million. Then in the first quarter of 2009 the activity spiked to $1.4 billion, followed by $1.2 billion in the second quarter. During this time the average 30 year interest rate declined nearly 1.5% in six months. The refinance pace slowed somewhat in the last half of 2009, but still finished the year with $3.7 billion in refinanced mortgage loans according to AHFC statistics.
In 2010, the refinance volume declined to $2.4 billion, followed by $2.1 billion in 2011. This is still far above historical levels. Through September of 2012 the volume has been higher at $2.2 billion in only nine months. According to the Federal Reserve, conventional 30-year mortgage rates nationwide averaged under 4% for the first time in November of 2011 and has fallen to 3.35% in November of 2012.
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