Refinance Report - April 2017

April 2017 Highlights

Total refinance volume fell in April 2017 as mortgage rates in March remained over half a percent higher than the lows observed in 2016. Mortgage rates decreased in April: the average interest rate on a 30‐year fixed rate mortgage fell to 4.05 percent from 4.20 percent in March.

In April 2017:

• Borrowers completed 3,493 refinances through HARP, bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,464,589.
• HARP volume represented 3 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 April 2017:

• Borrowers with loan‐to‐value ratios greater than 105 percent accounted for 19 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 6 or more percent of total refinances in Nevada, and Florida, double the 3 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 December 31, 2016.