FHFA: More Than 6.8M Troubled Homeowners Helped During Conservatorships
The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 43,356 foreclosure prevention actions during the third quarter, raising the total number of homeowners who have been helped to 6.86 million since the start of conservatorships in 2008.
FHFA released its third quarter Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report Thursday. It found that 33 percent of loan modifications completed in the third quarter reduced borrowers’ monthly payments by more than 20 percent. The number of refinances decreased from 93,952 in the second quarter of 2023 to 83,522 in the third quarter of 2023.
The Enterprises’ serious delinquency rate declined slightly from 0.55 percent to 0.54 percent at the end of the third quarter, FHFA reported. This compares with 3.34 percent for Federal Housing Administration loans, 1.99 percent for Veterans Affairs loans, and 1.52 percent for all loans (industry average).
Other highlights from the report include:
Forbearance: At the end of the quarter, there were 47,672 loans in forbearance, representing approximately 0.15 percent of the Enterprises’ single-family conventional book of business, down from 54,109 or 0.17 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2023. Approximately 2 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 0.72 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2023 to 0.73 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2023.
Foreclosures: The number of foreclosure starts increased 9 percent to 19,489 while third-party and foreclosure sales fell 4 percent to 3,615 in the third quarter.
Real Estate Owned (REO) Activity & Inventory: The Enterprises’ REO inventory decreased 0.4 percent from 11,061 in the second quarter of 2023 to 11,019 in the third quarter of 2023, as property dispositions outpaced acquisitions. The total number of property acquisitions decreased slightly to 1,568, while dispositions fell 11 percent to 1,573 during the quarter.
FHFA’s quarterly foreclosure prevention and refinance reports include data on the Enterprises’ mortgage performance, delinquencies, and active forbearance plans, as well as forfeiture actions and refinances by state. The data included in these reports are also available on FHFA’s website as an interactive Borrower Assistance Map.
