The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its second-quarter Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report, showing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 96,945 foreclosure prevention actions during the quarter. This raises the total number of homeowners who have been helped to 6,591,002 since start of conservatorships in September 2008, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The report also said 72 percent of loan modifications completed in the second quarter reduced borrowers’ monthly payments by more than 20 percent. Refinances decreased significantly amid rising mortgage rates from 899,518 in the first quarter to 444,852 in the second quarter.
The GSEs’ serious delinquency rate declined from 0.97 percent to 0.79 percent at the end of the second quarter, the report said.
Other takeaways included:
- Forbearance: As of June 30, FHFA reported 90,889 loans in forbearance, representing 0.29 percent of the GSEs’ single-family conventional book of business, down from 126,758 or 0.41 percent at the end of the first quarter. Nine percent of these loans have been on the plan for more than 12 months.
- Mortgage Performance: The 60-plus days delinquency rate dropped from 1.11 percent at the end of the first quarter to 0.92 percent at the end of the second quarter. The delinquency rates remained higher than pre-coronavirus rates due to the forbearance programs offered to borrowers affected by the pandemic.
- Foreclosures: The number of foreclosures starts decreased to 19,388 while third-party and foreclosure sales increased 13 percent to 3,458 in the second quarter.
- Real Estate Owned Activity & Inventory: The GSEs’ REO inventory increased by 3 percent from 9,048 in the first quarter to 9,341 in the second quarter, as REO acquisitions outpaced property dispositions. The total number of property acquisitions increased 3 percent to 1,523, while dispositions decreased slightly to 1,239 during the quarter.