The last time government-sponsored enterprise refinance volume was this slow, the country was digging its way out of a dark financial crisis.
Residential mortgage lenders closed 105,110 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refinances during March, according to data released Wednesday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
That was the slowest month since November 2008 — just months after the depths of the financial crisis and the collapse of Fannie and Freddie.
Fannie refinances accounted for 67,816 of the latest month’s volume, and Freddie was responsible for 37,294 transactions.
Total GSE refinance volume was 127,417 in February and 461,652 in March 2013.
During the three months ended March 31, 2014, there were 370,856 GSE refinances completed.
Included in March’s production were 19,992 transactions completed through the Home Affordable Refinance Program. Fannie’s share was 12,494, and Freddie’s portion was 7,498.
HARP activity dropped from 26,964 a month earlier and plummeted from 98,982 a year earlier.
Since the inception of HARP in April 2009, there have been 3,134,889 refinances completed through the program.
