FHFA: Refinance Report – May 2018
Investor Update
July 17, 2018
Source: FHFA
May 2018 Highlights
- Total refinance volume decreased in May 2018 as mortgage rates rose in April, continuing a trend first observed in October 2017. Mortgage rates increased in May: the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose to 4.59 percent from 4.47 percent in April, reaching levels last observed in 2011.
In May 2018:
- Borrowers completed 1,077 refinances through HARP, bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,490,261.
- HARP volume represented 1 percent of total refinance volume.
- Six percent of the loans refinanced through HARP had a loan-to-value ratio greater than 125 percent.
Year to date through May 2018:
- Borrowers with loan-to-value ratios greater than 105 percent accounted for 16 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 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 U.S. territory accounted for over 70 percent of the nation’s HARP eligible loans with a refinance incentive as of December 31, 2017.
Attachments: Refinance Report – May 2018