Refinances of residential loans backed or owned by the government-sponsored enterprises slowed to the lowest level in five months.
There were 208,700 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages refinanced in the first month of this year — the fewest since August 2016.
GSE refinances tumbled from the final month of 2016, when there were 251,901. But activity accelerated from 132,266 in January 2016.
Those details were delivered Thursday by the two companies’ regulator and conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency in its Refinance Report – January 2017.
Refinances of Washington-based Fannie’s loans sank to 119,042 in January 2017 from 152,956 a month earlier.
With 89,655 Freddie mortgages refinanced, volume for the McLean, Virginia-based firm fell from 98,945 in December 2016.
The report indicated that loans refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program numbered 4,553 during the most-recent month.
HARP production was down from 4,704 the previous month and 6,239 a year prior.
There have been 3,452,224 HARP refinances since the program’s inception in April 2009.
