FHFA: Refinance Report
Investor Update
March 14, 2019
Source: FHFA
•Total refinance volume in January 2019 was similar to December as mortgage rates fell in December after rising in previous months. Mortgage rates decreased in January: the average interest rate on a 30‐year fixed rate mortgage fell to 4.46 percent from 4.64 percent in December.
In January 2019:
•Borrowers completed 438 refinances through HARP, bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,494,833.
•HARP volume represented 1 percent of total refinance volume.
•Five percent of the loans refinanced through HARP had a loan‐to‐value ratio greater than 125 percent.
•Borrowers with loan‐to‐value ratios greater than 105 percent accounted for 21 percent of the volume of HARP loans.
•Thirty-one percent of HARP refinances for underwater borrowers were for shorter‐term 15‐ and 20‐year mortgages, which build equity faster than traditional 30‐year mortgages.
•HARP refinances represented 2 percent of total refinances in Illinois compared to 1 percent of total refinances nationwide over the same period.
•Borrowers who refinanced through HARP had a lower delinquency rate compared to borrowers eligible for HARP who did not refinance through the program.
•Nine states and one territory accounted for over 70 percent of the nation’s HARP eligible loans with a refinance incentive as of June 30, 2018.
