The latest reading on refinances closed through the Home Affordable Refinance Program indicates a 42 percent month-over-month jump in activity — with the Golden State seeing the most activity. Nearly 10 percent of all loans refinanced through the government program have been non-owner occupied, while the investor share jumps on mortgages with loan-to-value ratios above 125 percent.
Loan originators refinanced 573,153 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans during November, more than the 441,017 HARP and non-HARP refinances in October. Fannie’s share of November activity was 349,380 refinances, while Freddie’s share was 223,773.
During the first 11 months of 2012, overall refinances amounted to 4,391,337 transactions.
The numbers were discussed in the Refinance Report November 2012 from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
HARP originations accounted for 129,746 refinances in November, including 77,301 for Fannie and 52,445 for Freddie.
The prior month’s total was a revised 91,254 refinances.
October’s HARP volume was revised up from 81,613 originally reported — reflecting an adjustment to Fannie’s number, which was revised up to 56,828 from the 47,187 originally reported. The revision reflects an expansion in the definition for HARP at Fannie to include second-home and investment property refinances with LTVs over 80 percent. The revision, which is consistent with how Freddie had already been reporting its numbers, added 160,280 loans to program-to-date HARP volume — including 37,649 second home refinances and 122,631 investment property transactions.
The HARP program was established in 2009 for mortgages that were delivered to Fannie or Freddie prior to June 2009 with LTV ratios in excess of 80 percent and no late payments during the most-recent six months. Enhancements to the program in the Fall of 2011 boosted activity and created what has come to be known as HARP 2.0.
Mortgages with LTV ratios of between 80 percent and 105 percent represented 70,421 HARP transactions in November. Another 28,655 had LTVs above 105 percent and up to 125 percent, while 30,670 had LTVs in excess of 125 percent.
By far, the most HARP refinances in November occurred in California: 290,113. Florida followed with 165,323, then Illinois’ 143,044, Michigan’s 139,536 and Arizona’s 101,329. All other states had fewer than 100,000 HARP transactions during November.
Year-to-date HARP production from all states was 998,294 refinances.
Since the program was launched, 2,088,560 HARP refinances have closed, including 1,199,366 Fannie loans and 889,194 Freddie loans.
Primary residences secured 1,834,325 of loans that have been refinanced through HARP since the inception of the program. Second-home refinances totaled 67,255, and the remaining 186,980 were secured by investor properties.
The investor share jumps from 9 percent of all HARP volume to 11 percent for just loans with LTVs between 105 percent and 125 percent and surges to 15 percent on loans with LTVs higher than 125 percent.
