How popular are interest-only mortgages?  Specifically, what percent
of adjustable rate mortgages are interest-only for the fixed rate
period?

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Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 31 Mar 2004 11:16 PST

sieraski --

According to a very recent article in the Miami Herald:
"There are no industry statistics on how many interest-only mortgages
have been made since Fannie Mae started purchasing them in the
secondary market in 2001."
Miami Herald: Little Interest In Low Rates: Why? (2/22/04)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/columnists/harriet_brackey/8006105.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

I have come across a recent estimate from an individual mortgage
banking company of the percentage of its new business that is going to
interest-only ARMs, and there are undoubtedly at least a few more such
estimates out there.  If this kind of information would be completely
satisfactory, I would be happy to try to gather it and post it as an
answer.

markj-ga

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Clarification of Question by sieraski-ga on 31 Mar 2004 12:01 PST

Thanks, but I was actually looking for industry statistics.  I've
talked to different mortgage banking companies and they have vastly
different numbers given their different geographic focus and
demographic target markets.