Refinance Report - Fourth Quarter 2016

Fourth Quarter 2016 Highlights

Total refinance volume fell in December 2016 as mortgage rates increased in November. Mortgage rates increased further in December: the average interest rate on a 30‐year fixed rate mortgage was 4.20 percent.

In the fourth quarter of 2016:

• Borrowers completed 13,220 refinances through HARP,bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,447,671.
• HARP volume represented 2 percent of total refinance volume.

Year to date through December 2016:

• Borrowers with loan‐to‐value ratios greater than 105 percent accounted for 21 percent of the volume of HARP loans.
• Twenty‐seven 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 6 or more percent of total refinances in Nevada, Florida, and Georgia, double the 3 percent of total refinances nationwide over the same period.

In December, seven 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.
Ten states accounted for over 60 percent of the nation's HARP eligible loans with a refinance incentive as of September 30, 2016.
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