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GSEs Nearing Loan Modification Milestone

Avoid Foreclosure BHThe results of Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA [1])’s Foreclosure Prevention report for April 2016 [2] show that the enterprises completed more than 16,000 foreclosure prevention actions in April 2016, bringing the total of prevention actions to more than 3.7 million since the start of the conservatorships in September 2008.

Additionally, over half of these actions have been specifically permanent loan modifications. There were 10,784 permanent loan modifications in the month of April, bringing that total to approximately 1.94 million since the start in September of 2008. If the FHFA continues to complete permanent loan modifications at their current pace, they will pass 2 million in September.

The report also showed the share of modifications with principal forbearance fell to 18 percent as well as modifications with extend-term only also decreasing to 48 percent of all permanent modifications in April. According to the report, this has been attributed to improved house prices and a declining Home Affordable Modification Program eligible population.

Also in April, FHFA reported that there were 2,280 short sales and deeds-in-lieu completed, taking that number down 17 percent compared with March’s short sales and deeds-in-lieu reported number.

In regards to the enterprises' mortgage performance, it was found that the serious delinquency rate for mortgages guaranteed by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac decreased by four basis points to 1.31 percent at the end of April from 1.35 percent at the end of March.

According to FHFA, the enterprises' third-party and foreclosure sales declined 7 percent from 8,176 in March to 7,595 in April. Foreclosure starts also decreased 18 percent from 21,506 in March to 17,665 in April rounding out the report for this period.

The April 2016 Foreclosure Prevention Report [2] from the FHFA, released Tuesday, highlights the actions taken since their commencement in September of 2008 after the housing market crisis all the way to their current progress as of the end of April 2016.

Click here [2] to view the entire report.