The volume of government-sponsored enterprise loans that were refinanced ascended to the highest level in five months — though government supported refinances remain weak.
Refinances of loans backed or owned by
the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. totaled 124,997 units during August.
The last time that GSE refinances were this strong was in March, when primary mortgage originators refinanced 143,455 single-family loans.
The data was reported
Tuesday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
The most-recent total included 78,228 Fannie Mae loans and 46,769 Freddie Mac mortgages.
Although GSE refinances increased from 109,199 in July, activity has plummeted from 206,090 units refinanced in August 2016.
Loans refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program made up 2,379 of the latest month’s overall activity — the second-lowest volume during any month for the program.
The lowest month was July 2017, when 2,305 HARP transactions were completed.
