Tuesday, March 8, 2016

States Where Refinancing Could Save the Most Money

Interest rates have been at all-time lows for years, but millions of people who could qualify for reduced mortgage rates through refinancing haven’t taken the plunge. About 6.68 million homeowners across America could collectively save a total of $20 billion annually. California is the state with the most potential refinance savings, according to a state-by-state analysis provided to NerdWallet by Black Knight Financial Services.

The data, based upon a broader analysis released Monday in the company’s January Mortgage Monitor report, calculated the number of potential refinance candidates and their possible savings. Candidates for refinance were defined by Black Knight as those with a credit score of at least 720 who had at least 20% home equity and a 30-year fixed mortgage rate at least 75 basis points, or 0.75%, above the Feb. 18 average 30-year fixed rate of 3.65%.

Other top states for savings include Florida, New York and Texas, where residents miss out on a total of at least $100 million in savings a month by not refinancing. California had the highest total potential savings at just under $300 million a month, and had the fourth-highest individual savings at $328 per homeowner per month.

Smaller states see higher averages

Higher total savings were found mostly in states with larger populations. Smaller states such as Connecticut, Hawaii and Massachusetts, as well as Washington, D.C., all made the top 10 for average potential savings per homeowner, with Hawaii topping the list at $437. This likely stems from higher real estate prices. States that placed in the top 10 in both total and individual savings were California, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

Most states maintained roughly the same amount of individual potential savings from three months ago, although D.C., Montana and New York saw such savings rise by at least $20 a month. Iowa remained the state with lowest potential individual savings, at $171 a month.

Total savings was calculated by multiplying the potential refinance candidates in a state by the average potential savings. All figures are monthly.

States where refinancing could save the most money: full data

Scroll down to see all states, as well as total U.S. numbers.

State Candidates for refinancing Average individual monthly savings Total statewide monthly savings
California 912,500 $328 $299.4 million
New York 396,300 $341 $135.3 million
Texas 513,200 $212 $108.9 million
Florida 476,100 $222 $105.7 million
Virginia 213,000 $280 $59.6 million
Washington 219,300 $264 $57.8 million
Illinois 231,800 $241 $55.8 million
New Jersey 173,400 $312 $54.1 million
Pennsylvania 225,900 $225 $50.8 million
Georgia 220,700 $230 $50.7 million
North Carolina 204,400 $217 $44.4 million
Colorado 181,100 $239 $43.2 million
Maryland 143,400 $300 $43 million
Michigan 202,400 $195 $39.5 million
Ohio 201,600 $195 $39.3 million
Minnesota 171,000 $230 $39.3 million
Arizona 201,800 $193 $39 million
Oregon 154,000 $242 $37.2 million
Massachusetts 98,900 $321 $31.8 million
Tennessee 118,900 $209 $24.9 million
Indiana 120,200 $177 $21.3 million
South Carolina 97,300 $215 $20.9 million
Missouri 109,800 $188 $20.7 million
Connecticut 58,800 $301 $17.7 million
Nevada 82,900 $212 $17.6 million
Utah 70,700 $237 $16.8 million
Alabama 76,200 $212 $16.1 million
Wisconsin 76,900 $203 $15.6 million
Louisiana 69,600 $211 $14.7 million
Kentucky 72,100 $188 $13.6 million
Hawaii 28,100 $437 $12.3 million
Oklahoma 57,900 $191 $11 million
Idaho 51,500 $207 $10.6 million
New Mexico 46,200 $227 $10.5 million
Kansas 46,700 $188 $8.8 million
Iowa 48,700 $171 $8.3 million
Arkansas 43,800 $182 $8 million
Delaware 26,700 $263 $7 million
New Hampshire 26,100 $265 $6.9 million
Washington, D.C. 18,500 $356 $6.6 million
Nebraska 33,300 $173 $5.7 million
Montana 25,600 $217 $5.6 million
Mississippi 24,200 $208 $5 million
Maine 20,100 $238 $4.8 million
Rhode Island 15,800 $277 $4.4 million
West Virginia 18,400 $202 $3.7 million
Alaska 12,600 $267 $3.4 million
Wyoming 11,500 $232 $2.7 million
South Dakota 12,600 $181 $2.3 million
Vermont 9,400 $241 $2.3 million
North Dakota 9,000 $173 $1.6 million
U.S. 6,680,900 $249 $1.7 billion

Kamran Rosen is a data analyst at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: kamran@nerdwallet.com.


Image via iStock.

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