More Than A Number

As one of the few banks to provide information on its efforts to help homeowners facing foreclosure, Citigroup has become a bellwether of sorts within the industry to see the state of mortgage refinancing. According to the latest information, refinancing is still on the rise as the Wall Street Journal says Citigroup’s mortgage mitigation has risen 29 percent in the last quarter.

In the second quarter of 2009, Citigroup worked with just over 100,000 homeowners with loans originally valued at more than $16 billion to avoid foreclosure. That’s a 90 percent increase over mortgage mitigation rates from the same quarter in 2008. Citigroup also originated 32 percent more new mortgages in the past quarter, due in large part to lower mortgage rates.

The increased demand for mortgage financing might mean a shortage of mortgage insurance, as the Orange County Register reports that the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America is seeking capital assistance to deal with increased demand.