Tag Archives: HARP

Following a play by Democrats to defang Republicans' filibuster powers, the U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Rep. Mel Watt (D-North Carolina) as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The vote went 57-41 in Watt's favor, the Wall Street Journal reports. All Senate Democrats voted in favor of confirmation; they were joined across the aisle by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Richard Burr (R-North Carolina).

Analysts expect to see a new face at the helm of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) now that Senate Democrats have changed the rules so that a filibuster can't be used to block presidential appointments. Now only needing a simple majority for confirmation, Mel Watt's 56 votes in the Senate's first decision on his nomination mean he has enough support to become director of the FHFA--a change analysts say raises policy risk but also credit availability.

Despite a steady climb in mortgage interest rates since May, borrowers continued to take advantage of low rates to refinance into lower monthly payments, Freddie Mac reported Tuesday. According to the results of the company's latest quarterly refinance analysis, the average interest rate reduction among those who refinanced in Q3 was about 1.8 percentage points, representing a savings of about 30 percent ($3,500 over 12 months on a $200,000 loan).

FBR Capital Markets on Wednesday raised its projection for new mortgage volume in the third quarter to $400-$420 billion, largely due to more activity from special servicers as larger banks relinquish market share. FBR anticipates strong performance from these specialty servicers, partly because of their ability to effectually mine acquired portfolios for refinancing opportunities.

Newly initiated foreclosures are on the decline, reaching their lowest numbers since December 2005 in June, according to the latest Housing Scorecard from the Obama administration. Meanwhile, the administration continues to add to the tally of homeowners helped through its Making Home Affordable Program, bringing the total to more than 1.7 million as of June. Looking forward, the administration says it will focus on forming a new housing finance system.

In a speech Tuesday, President Barack Obama will stress the need for a new housing finance system based on specific core principles that include putting private capital first, ending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's ""failed business model,"" and ensuring broad access to the 30-year fixed rate mortgage, according to a fact sheet from the White House. ""Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be wound down through a responsible transition, and the government role during normal times should be no bigger than necessary to achieve the principles laid out here,"" officials stated in the fact sheet released prior to the speaking event in Phoenix.

Undoubtedly, broadening eligibility for the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) has allowed more borrowers to benefit from the program. However, HARP rules aren't the only obstacles stunting refinance volume. A report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General (FHFA OIG) found a lack of borrower education is also a critical barrier to the program. ""[M]any borrowers have not heard of the program, confuse the program with other government housing programs, or do not realize that they are eligible,"" the report stated.

The number of borrowers who refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) fell 20 percent month-over-month in May, data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) revealed. The GSEs refinanced 84,648 borrowers through HARP in May, down from 106,910 in April. Since HARP's 2009 inception, the program has refinanced over 2.6 million loans.

If two tweaks were made to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), refinancing activity could increase substantially, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. One change would be to remove the cutoff date that limits eligibility to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans that were obtained by June 1, 2009. The second change would be to allow borrowers to refinance under the program more than once.

In April alone, nearly 107,000 loans were refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), up from 99,000 in March, according to data FHFA. April's figure raises the total since the program's 2009 inception to 2.56 million. The program also continued to help a large share of underwater borrowers. From January to April, 44 percent of GSE borrowers who refinanced under the program had loan-to-value ratios greater than 105 percent.