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I was just looking for this article as I heard it on the radio. Thanks for posting.

For us "laypeople" a little more polished article from Reuters:

Wed July 23, 2003 07:58 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fewer Americans applied for mortgages last week, an industry group said on Wednesday, as the highest borrowing rates in more than three months cut demand for refinancing.
Applications for home loans fell 5.4 percent last week to the lowest level since early May, the Mortgage Bankers Association of America said on Wednesday.

The housing and mortgage sectors have been crucial props for the economy for over two years. By some estimates, about half the growth in the economy for the last year has come from housing and home loans.

But with rates rising, housing will likely slow, economists said.

That slowing was already evident in applications to refinance homes, which fell 7.2 percent last week.

"We're very close to the end of the refinancing boom," said Kurt Karl, chief economist for North America at Swiss Re in New York. Rates may decline a bit sometime before the end of the quarter before heading higher again, he added.

A cooling housing sector does not mean economic growth will disappear. Business spending is likely to increase in the second half of the year, said Asha Bangalore, economist at Northern Trust Co. in Chicago.

On the consumer side, with tax refunds coming to Americans, spending should hold steady in the second half of the year even though unemployment and interest rates are rising, said Elisabeth Denison, economist at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in New York.

Steady consumer spending overall should translate to steady home buying activity, even as rates rise, economists said.

Last week, a large increase in mortgage rates resulted in just a 1.1 percent decline in applications for mortgages to buy homes.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said earlier this month that it expects new and existing home sales to rise to 6.83 million this year before falling to 6.58 million next year. The expected 2004 level is still above 2002's record 6.54 million units.

INDEXES LOWER

The Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday its seasonally adjusted gauge of mortgage applications fell 5.4 percent to 1,284.3 in the week ended July 18.

The average rate for a 30-year mortgage, the most popular home loan in the U.S., rose 0.39 percentage points to 5.72 percent, its highest level since the week of April 4. The percentage point increase was the largest since the week of Nov. 16, 2001.

Higher rates reduced demand for refinancing, and to a lesser extent, purchasing. The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of refinance applications fell 7.2 percent to 6,181.2 last week, a level nearly 40 percent below the record 9,977.8 reached on May 30.

The group's index of applications for mortgages to buy homes drifted 1.1 percent lower to 442.4, which is still well above average for the year.

Some info for those in the NY metro area.

Many banks are willing to re-finance for a fee ranging from $500 to $1500........no other costs of any kind. They will simply lower your rate, even if you have recently refinanced or not financed for years and years.

It's called Loan Adjustment and it takes only a phone call.

This was noted in a column in the New York Post Business Section several weeks ago.

We called our bank and for $900 they lowered our mortgage rate 3 pts.