February 2019 Highlights 

• Total refinance volume in February 2019 was similar to January as mortgage rates fell in previous months but remained above the lows observed in 2018.  Mortgage rates decreased in February: the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell to 4.37 percent from 4.46 percent in January.
  
  In February 2019:
  
• Borrowers completed 323 refinances through HARP, bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,495,156. 
• HARP volume represented 0.4 percent of total refinance volume. 
• Four percent of the loans refinanced through HARP had a loan-to-value ratio greater than 125 percent. 

Year to date through February 2019: 

• Borrowers with loan‐to‐value ratios greater than 105 percent  accounted for 17 percent of the volume of HARP loans. 
• Thirty-five 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.