by Calculated Risk on 7/16/2012 04:32:00 PM

From Alan Zibel at the WSJ: ‘Underwater’ Refis Grow; Critics Not Satisfied

The number of homeowners refinancing their mortgages under a revamped federal program grew in May, but critics are still pressing a federal regulator to do more.

For the first five months of 2012, more than 78,000 homeowners who owe more than 105% of their property’s value have refinanced using the government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP. That was up from about 60,000 in all of 2011, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said in a report Monday.

This is a significant increase in refinance activity, but still somewhat below expectations. However the automated system wasn't released until the end of March - and there were some issues with that system - so maybe there more HARP refinances over the rest of 2012.

This table shows the number of HARP refinances by LTV through May of this year compared to all of 2011. Clearly there has been an increase in activity.

HARP Activity
	2012, Through May	All of 2011	Since Inception
Total HARP	297,103	400,024	1,318,954
LTV >80% -105%	218,830	340,033	1,150,065
LTV >105% -125%	67,155	59,991	157,771
LTV >125%	11,118	0	11,118