Recent - and unexpected - declines in mortgage rates over the past several months have sparked some very low levels of refinance activity. A boomlet? Compared with previous levels of refinancing, no. But during the middle of October, for example, mortgage rates dipped slightly to the lowest they've been since the summer 2013. During the third quarter refi activity nationwide rose to about $8 billion, which is less than one-tenth of the refi activity when the market peaked in mid-2006. Still, an analysis by Freddie Mac shows that reduced mortgage payments will save American homeowners more than $1.5 billion in interest payments over the next 12 months with an average interest rate reduction of about 1.3 percentage points , or a savings of about 24 percent. And with house prices on the rise, the share of those cash-out refinancings is on the rise, increasing from 3 percent during the third quarter 2012 to almost 8 percent by the end of September.
