Americans have saved $14 billion by refinancing their mortgages since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, spurring tens of billions of dollars in economic activity in the process, according to the most recent mortgage report from Black Knight, a financial services firm for the mortgage and real industries.
"Over the first 18 months of the pandemic, these borrowers reduced their aggregate mortgage payments by more than $1.3 billion per month," Ben Graboske, president of data and analytics at Black Knight, said in the report Monday. "Assuming they all stay in their homes for the duration of 2022 -- this group is on track to save nearly $35 billion in total by the end of next year." Â
Another 5.5 million Americans tapped into their home equity through cash-out refinances over the past 18 months, saving themselves a combined $322 billion since the start of the pandemic. The number of Americans eligible to refinance has never reached above 10 million until now, and there is still "more incentive [to refinance] in the market than at any time prior to 2020," according to the report.
For Americans with high interest rates, right now remains a golden opportunity to refinance. There's $9.1 trillion in available home equity that remains untapped, and half of it belongs to homeowners with rates at 3.5% or higher. If you are one of them, you may be leaving money on the table if you're not exploring a refi. Plus, almost three-quarters (71%) of that equity is in the hands of homeowners with credit scores of 760 or higher -- a population that has a solid chance of being approved for a new mortgage with a lower interest rate.
