Hybrid ARMs Grew in Popularity Last Year

Hoosier Banker, Feb 2006

Through November 2005, adjustable rate mortgages accounted for about 32 percent of loan applications in 2005, according to a Freddie Mac survey. That compares to an annual low of 11 percent in 1998 and a high of 33 percent in 2004. Hybrid ARMs with an initial fixed-rate period of five years, known as "5/1" ARMs, represented two in every five ARMs in 2005 and were available at four of five lenders that offered an ARM product, the survey found.