Refinance Report - January 2018

January 2018 Highlights

Total refinance volume decreased in January 2018 as mortgage rates in December rose, continuing a trend first observed in October. Mortgage rates increased in January: the average interest rate on a 30‐year fixed rate mortgage rose to 4.03 percent from 3.95 percent in December.

Additional January highlights include the following:

• Borrowers completed 1,557 refinances through HARP, bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,485,583. 
• HARP volume represented 1 percent of total refinance volume.
• Six percent of the loans refinanced through HARP had a loan-to‐value ratio greater than 125 percent.
• Borrowers with loan-to-value ratios greater than 105 percent accounted for 15 percent of the volume of HARP loans. 
• Thirty 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 Georgia and Illinois -- triple the 1 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.
• 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 September 30, 2017.