First Quarter 2018 Highlights
Total refinance volume decreased in March 2018 as mortgage rates rose in February, continuing a trent first observed in October 2017. Mortgage rates increased in March: the average interest rate on a 30‐year fixed rate mortgage rose to 4.44 percent from 4.33 percent in February, reaching levels last observed in 2014.
In the first quarter of 2018:
- Borrowers completed 4,139 refinances through HARP, bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,488,165.
- HARP volume represented 1 percent of total refinance volume.
- Borrowers with loan‐to‐value ratios greater than 105 percent accounted for 16 percent of the volume of HARP loans.
- Thirty-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 3 percent of total refinances in Illinois -- triple the 1 percent of total refinances nationwide over the same period.
In March, 6 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.
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 December 31, 2017.