First Quarter 2018 Highlights

• Total refinance volume decreased in March 2018 as mortgage rates rose in February, continuing a trent first observed in October 2017.  Mortgage rates increased in March: the average interest rate on a 30‐year fixed rate mortgage rose to 4.44 percent from 4.33 percent in February, reaching levels last observed in 2014.
  

In the first quarter of 2018:

• Borrowers completed 4,139 refinances through HARP, bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,488,165.
• HARP volume represented 1 percent of total refinance volume.
• Borrowers with loan‐to‐value ratios greater than 105 percent accounted for 16 percent of the volume of HARP loans.
• Thirty-four 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.
• In March, 6 percent of the loans refinanced through HARP had a loan‐to‐value ratio greater than 125 percent.
  
• 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.
  

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