Mortgage rates are plummeting to record lows, attracting hoards of applications for new mortgages and mortgage refinancings.
The volume of applications filed for mortgages jumped a seasonally adjusted 48 percent last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey.
The survey's refinance Index increased 62.6 percent from the week before. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 83.2 percent of the total applications from 76.9 percent the previous week.
Applications for the week ended Dec. 19 ran 124.6% ahead of the mortgage activity seen during the same week last year, according to the MBA.
The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell to an average of 5.14 percent for the week ending Dec. 24, down from last week's 5.19 percent average, according to the MBA survey, released today.
"Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages eased for the eighth straight week and set another record low since Freddie Mac's survey began in 1971," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac chief economist, in a news release.

Wisconsin will have a strong presence on the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of Chicago board of directors in 2009.
The FHLB of Chicago is a $91 billion wholesale bank and government-sponsored enterprise that provides housing finance to more than 800 member commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions, and insurance companies located in the 7th Federal Home Loan Bank District of Illinois and Wisconsin.
Seven new independent directors were added by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 to replace the "appointive directors" previously designated by the bank's regulator.
Effective Jan. 1, 2009, the independent directors will join the 10 current board members representing member financial institutions in Illinois and Wisconsin.
The new directors will include James Ericson, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. Inc. in Milwaukee, and Leo Ries, executive director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) in Milwaukee.
"The inclusion of independent directors on the board is intended to supplement member directors with skills and perspectives that enhance the entire board's ability to engage in effective governance and oversight of this large and complex financial institution," said Matt Feldman, president and CEO of the FHLB of Chicago. "To that end, we are particularly fortunate that these talented individuals have committed to supporting our members during these challenging times."
The independent directors will join the current board, which also includes E. David Locke, chairman and CEO of McFarland State Bank, and William Sennholz, president and CEO of Marshfield Savings Bank.

Protecting independent businesses and farms from expansion of the sales tax base tops the legislative agenda for Wisconsin Independent Businesses (WIB) going into the 2009-10 session.
Health care costs, business contracts language, unemployment insurance and small claims court reform round out the top five agenda issues that the WIB will pursue before the new legislature.
"Expanding the sales tax base is a terrible idea," said Wayne Corey, executive director of the WIB. "To reverse decades of sound tax policy at the height of a bad recession is the height of folly and WIB will help legislators understand that a broad-based approach to new state revenue is the wise path to take."
The WIB has been involved with development of plans leading toward the proposed BadgerChoice health insurance reform proposal.
"We expect to be able to actively support it if it is part of the executive budget bill," Corey said.
Legislation requiring large multi-state companies to timely notify Wisconsin firms about automatic renewal clauses hidden in lease and service contracts returns as a leading priority for the WIB in 2009.
"This legislation has passed the Senate three times and been killed by Assembly leaders or a committee chair the past three sessions. Those people are no longer in power and, in some cases, no longer in the legislature. We expect this important common sense bill to pass handily," Corey said.
The state Unemployment Insurance Fund seems poised to run out of money early in the New Year. If new legislation is needed to shore up the system, the WIB will strongly support protection for the small stable employers who have a positive balance in their UI account.
"Independent business and farm owners have proven they are the backbone of Wisconsin's economy. The challenges faced by small business and farmers are great. WIB will work to protect our members in these very difficult times," Corey said.

Danbury, Conn.-based Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. has opened a new 15,900-square-foot design center in Brookfield at 425 North Moorland Road.
The new design center represents a consolidation of three Milwaukee area design centers.
Since January 2008, Ethan Allen has opened 18 new design centers and design studios across the nation and has five more in the pipeline to open in the first half of 2009.
Ethan Allen is a leading manufacturer and retailer of quality home furnishings and a provider of interior design solutions and service through a network of 295 retail locations.

The stock market was mostly flat in an abbreviated holiday session of trading today. The largest local gainers in the BizTimes Stock Index were The Marcus Corp. (up $1.28 to $14.45), Rockwell Automation Inc. (up 93 cents to $30.73) and Kohl's Corp. (up 78 cents to $33.45). The largest local decliners this morning were Strattec Security Corp. (down $1.00 to $13.00) and Badger Meter Inc. (down 34 cents to $30.15).

The Chinese people are not buying the "trickle down" theory of economics espoused by the Bush administration for the past eight years, according to Einar Tangen, BizTimes Milwaukee's correspondent in China. Read more in the latest edition of Tangen's Dispatches From China.

A large portion of roof collapsed this morning at the Kohler Co. plant in Kohler, but no injuries have been reported, according to a report in the Sheboygan Press. Read more in BizTimes Milwaukee's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com/#news.

A new three-story, 82-room Sleep Inn & Suites hotel will open in January near General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee at 4600 S. Sixth St. To read more, visit the latest edition of the BizTimes Real Estate Weekly bulletin.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce's Council of Small Business Executives (COSBE) recently held its annual holiday party. To view a photographic slideshow of the event, visit the latest edition of BizTimes Around Town.

Food prices continue to rise, even though transportation costs have plummeted and corn prices have fallen. Who's to blame? Josh Morby has an opinion in today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.