WASHINGTON – Freddie Mac today released the "Refinance Product Transition Report." Perhaps not surprisingly, the results show a borrower preference for fixed-rate mortgages.
Ninety-four percent of prime borrowers who originally had a one-year conforming adjustable rate mortgage chose a new conforming fixed-rate mortgage when they refinanced. Eighty-two percent of prime borrowers who initially had a conforming hybrid ARM refinanced into a conforming fixed-rate loan as well. Second quarter numbers were 97% and 86%, respectively.
More than 95% of borrowers who had a fixed-rate loan refinanced into another long-term fixed-rate loan.
"The elevated interest-rate volatility that has been a feature of the capital markets in recent months has discouraged borrowers from seeking adjustable-rate mortgages unless they have at least several years worth of an initial fixed-rate period," said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac.
While 18 percent of borrowers who initially had a hybrid ARM refinanced back into that product, only 4 percent of borrowers who originally had a 30-year fixed-rate loan switched to an ARM loan and all of those borrowers chose a hybrid loan product.
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