FHFA: Refinance Report – February 2018
Investor Update
April 12, 2018
Source: FHFA
February 2018 Highlights
- Total refinance volume decreased in February 2018 as mortgage rates rose in January. Mortgage rates increased in February: the average interest rate on a 20-year fixed rate mortgage rose to 4.33 percent from 4.03 percent in January, reaching levels last observed in 2014.
In February 2018:
- Borrowers completed 1,292 refinances through HARP, bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,486,875.
- HARP volume represented 1 percent of total refinance volume.
- Three percent of the loans refinanced through HARP had a loan-to-value ratio greater than 125 percent.
Year to date through February 2018:
- Borrowers with loan?to?value ratios greater than 105 percent accounted for 15 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 3 percent of total refinances in Illinois — triple the 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 U.S. territory accounted for over 70 percent of the nation’s HARP eligible loans with a refinance incentive as of September 30, 2017.
Attachments: Refinance Report – February 2018
