Refinance Report - February 2016

Total refinance volume continued to decrease in February 2016 as mortgage rates remained just under 4 percent over the previous three months. Mortgage rates decreased in February: the average interest rate on a 30‐year fixed rate mortgage fell to 3.66 percent from 3.87 percent in January.​

​​In February 2016:

• Borrowers completed 6,424 refinances through HARP, bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,393,217.
• HARP volume represented 5 percent of total refinance volume.
• Nine percent of the loans refinanced through HARP had a loan‐to‐value ratio greater than 125 percent.

Year to date through February 2016:

• Borrowers with loan‐to‐value ratios greater than 105 percent accounted for 23 percent of the volume of HARP loans.
• Twenty 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 10 or more percent of total refinances in Florida and Georgia, double the 5 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.

Ten states accounted for over 60 percent of the nation's HARP eligible loans with a refinance incentive as of September 30, 2015.​