A rebound in house prices and near record low interest rates are prompting homeowners to borrow against their properties, marking the return of a practice that was all the rage before the financial crisis. Home-equity lines of credit, or Helocs, and home-equity loans jumped 8% in the first quarter from a year earlier. This year’s gains are the latest evidence that the tight credit conditions that have defined mortgage lending in recent years are starting to loosen.
Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2014
