Maryland Housing Price Increases Expected to Cool in 2004 - 2004-01-11
Cindy Ariosa's business has been a popular conversation ice breaker at parties the last three years.nBut the president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors expects that people will be less likely to chat about the extraordinary run-up in housing sales and prices.

Most of the appreciation has come as a result of historically low interest rates and higher demand. Rates dropped in June to a level not seen in nearly a half-century: 5.21 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.
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Lucas County, Ohio, Continues to See Jump of Mortgages - 2004-01-11
Recorder Sue Rioux has a simple explanation for why the number of mortgages processed in Lucas County -- and the total dollars lent -- were both up almost 7 percent last year over 2002.

"Anyone who hadn't refinanced or bought before this year figured it was as good a time as ever, especially with 30-year fixed rates down where 15-year rates usually are," she said.
Read the full story at Miami Herald