From RealTrends.com: In the second quarter of 2010, 22 percent of homeowners who refinanced their first-lien home mortgage lowered their principal balance by paying in additional money at the closing table. This ties the record for the third highest cash-in share since Freddie Mac began keeping records on refinancing patterns in 1985. The revised cash-in share in the first quarter was 19 percent.
“Cash-out” borrowers, those that increased their loan balance by at least 5 percent, represented 27 percent of all refinance loans; the cash-out shares over the last three quarters were the lowest since the analysis began in 1985. The higher cash-in share in combination with low cash-out refinancing activity brought the net dollars of home equity converted to cash to the lowest level in 10 years. In the second quarter, $8.3 billion in home equity was cashed out during the refinance of conventional prime-credit home mortgages vs. $8.4 billion in the first quarter.