More than 544,000 borrowers in the first quarter refinanced their Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage loans, with about 31,600 of those happening through the Home Affordable Refinance Program, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said yesterday. First-quarter HARP refinances in Georgia and Florida were 14 percent or higher of total refinances, more than double the national average of 6 percent.
Overall GSE refinances increased in March as mortgage rates remained near 20-month lows in February, and 8 percent of March’s loans refinanced through HARP had a loan-to-value ratio greater than 125 percent. The refinance report shows that Fannie and Freddie have refinanced nearly 21 million loans since 2009, including more than 3.3 million through HARP