CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little business buzz right now. Record low mortgage rates are fueling another record number of loans this year, but how long will the hot housing market last? Carrie Lee live from New York has more on that. Good morning.</s>CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well this year is expected to be a record. We're expected to see an issue record $3.4 trillion worth of new loans this year, and that's a 36.5 percent increase over the prior record which was set last year, this according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. So what happens going forward? A lot of people are speculating that this housing bubble, as they're calling it, is set to burst. Well in the three-year forecast, the MBA expects that new mortgage loans will issue -- will total $1.94 trillion, that's for 2004. That's a 43 percent drop. And then the year after that, for 2005, new loan originations will total about $1.46 trillion and that's down 25 percent, so certainly a drop off in the new loan originations. Perhaps the bright spot here, though, they're not expecting mortgage rates to exactly spike up. In fact, the 30-year average rate will move up to 6.1 percent next year and to 6.7 percent two years from now, Carol, quite a bit higher from where they are now, but certainly not a sharp spike up, so I guess that's the relative bright spot.</s>COSTELLO: Yes, quick look at the futures before you have to go.</s>LEE: Yes, things look pretty strong once again, so the bulls continuing to rally. Before the bell we're going to hear from Johnson & Johnson and Merrill Lynch on the profit front -- the profit reporting front. Tonight, after the closing bell, Intel. So those are three of the big names to watch today.</s>COSTELLO: Carrie Lee, many thanks, live from New York this morning. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
2003 Loans Expected to Reach $3.4 Trillion