​​​Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its first quarter 2021 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report, which shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) completed 224,646 foreclosure prevention actions in the first quarter of 2021, bringing the total number of homeowners who have been helped during conservatorships to 5.812 million. 

The report also shows that 38 percent of loan modifications completed in the first quarter reduced borrowers' monthly payments by more than 20 percent. The number of refinances increased from 2.013 million in the fourth quarter to 2.016 million in the first quarter.

The Enterprises' serious delinquency rate dropped from 2.78 percent to 2.48 percent at the end of the quarter. This compares with 11 percent for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, 5.59 percent for Veterans Affairs (VA) loans and 4.7 percent for all loans (industry average).  

Other highlights from the report include:

• Forbearance:  The total number of loans in forbearance continued to trend downward since its peak in May as initiated forbearance plans decreased, but remained elevated through the first quarter (compared with pre-pandemic levels). As of March 31, 2021, there were 660,039 loans in forbearance plan, representing approximately 2.2 percent of the Enterprises single-family conventional book of business, down from 804,559 or 2.8 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020.
• Mortgage Performance:  The 60+ days delinquency rate decreased from 3.07 percent at the end of the fourth quarter to 2.68 percent at the end of the first quarter. The delinquency rate remained elevated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the forbearance programs being offered to affected borrowers.
• Foreclosures:  The number of foreclosure starts rose 45 percent from 6,302 in the fourth quarter to 9,125 in the first quarter.
• Real Estate Owned (REO) Activity & Inventory:  Enterprises' REO inventory declined 12 percent from 9,739 in the fourth quarter to 8,522 in the first quarter. The total number of property acquisitions increased 8 percent to 1,228, while dispositions decreased 19 percent to 2,445 during the quarter.

FHFA's quarterly foreclosure prevention and refinance reports include data on the Enterprises' mortgage performance, delinquencies, 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.​​