NEW YORK (CNNMONEY.COM) — The Mortgage Bankers Association on Monday slashed its estimate of the number of mortgages its members will issue in 2009. One reason: Few refinancings are being done under the Obama administration’s ballyhooed Home Affordable Refinance Program.

The MBA is forecasting mortgage originations of $2.03 trillion for the year, a drop of over $700 billion from its March forecast with more than $600 billion of the drop due to fewer refinancings than originally predicted.

Only 13,000 HARP refinancings have been completed during the first three months after the program’s launch, according to the MBA. Policy makers originally projected that 4 to 5 million mortgage borrowers would take advantage of the program over the next year.

HARP targets borrowers with loans guaranteed or owned by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and it enables them to qualify for refinancing into a lower rate if their balances are too high relative to their home values.

But the MBA is skeptical that HARP numbers will ever hit projections.

“While the number of loans completed under this program is likely to increase,” said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the MBA in a release announcing the lowering of origination estimates, “it is difficult to craft a scenario under which origination volumes would come anywhere close to reaching the numbers originally envisioned for the program, particularly under our higher rate environment.”

One reason why HARP hasn’t taken off yet is that lenders/servicers are still gearing up to handle it, according to John Courson, president of the MBA. It’s not as simple as a regular refi, he said.

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