Refinance Report - First Quarter 2017

First Quarter 2017 Highlights 

Total refinance volume fell in March 2017 as mortgage rates in February remained over half a percent higher than the lows observed in 2016. Mortgage rates increased in March: the average interest rate on a 30‐year fixed rate mortgage rose to 4.20 percent from 4.17 percent in February.

In the first quarter of 2017:

• Borrowers completed 13,425 refinances through HARP, bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,461,096.
• HARP volume represented 3 percent of total refinance volume.
• Borrowers with loan‐to‐value ratios greater than 105 percent accounted for 19 percent of the volume of HARP loans.
• Twenty-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 6 or more percent of total refinances in Nevada and Florida, double the 3 percent of total refinances nationwide over the same period.

In March, 7 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 December 31, 2016.

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