Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Complete 52,469 4Q Foreclosure Prevention Actions
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 52,469 foreclosure prevention actions during the fourth quarter, raising the total number of homeowners who have been helped to 6.7 million since September 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported.
FHFA released its fourth quarter Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report Thursday. It found that 37 percent of loan modifications completed in the fourth quarter reduced borrowers’ monthly payments by more than 20 percent. The number of refinances decreased amid rising mortgage rates from 194,189 in the third quarter to 111,251 in the fourth.
The GSEs’ serious delinquency rate declined slightly from 0.68 percent to 0.65 percent at the end of the fourth quarter. This compares with 4.40 percent for Federal Housing Administration loans, 2.43 percent for Veterans Affairs loans and 1.89 percent for all loans (industry average).
Other highlights from the report include:
Forbearance: There were 81,173 loans in forbearance as of December 31, representing approximately 0.26 percent of the GSEs’ single-family conventional book of business, up from 78,432 or 0.25 percent at the end of the third quarter. Approximately 3 percent of these loans have been on a forbearance plan for more than 12 months.
Mortgage Performance: The 60-plus day delinquency rate increased slightly from 0.83 percent at the end of the third quarter to 0.84 percent at the end of 2022. “The delinquency rates remained slightly higher than pre-coronavirus rates due to the forbearance programs offered to borrowers affected by the pandemic,” FHFA said.
Foreclosures: The number of foreclosure starts increased 8 percent to 18,693 in the fourth quarter while third-party and foreclosure sales dropped 8 percent to 3,297. Real Estate Owned Activity & Inventory: The GSEs’ REO inventory increased 7 percent from 10,251 in the third quarter to 10,997 in the fourth as REO acquisitions outpaced property dispositions. The total number of property acquisitions decreased 9 percent to 1,706, while dispositions decreased 2 percent to 977 during the quarter.
