​Washington, D.C. –  The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its fourth quarter 2020 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report, which shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) completed 362,912 foreclosure prevention actions in the fourth quarter of 2020, bringing the total number of homeowners who have been helped during conservatorships to 5.588 million.

The report also shows that 30 percent of loan modifications completed in the fourth quarter reduced borrowers' monthly payments by more than 20 percent. The number of refinances increased from 1.76 million in the third quarter to 2.01 million in the fourth quarter.

The Enterprises' serious delinquency rate dropped from 3.14 percent to 2.78 percent at the end of the quarter. This compares with 11.19 percent for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, 5.96 percent for Veterans Affairs (VA) loans and 5.03 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 fourth quarter (compared with pre-pandemic levels). As of December 31, there were 804,559 loans in forbearance, representing approximately 2.8 percent of the Enterprises' single-family conventional book of business, down from 1,045,808—or 3.7 percent—at the end of the third quarter.
• Mortgage Performance:  The 60+ days delinquency rate decreased from 3.58 percent at the end of the third quarter to 3.07 percent at the end of the fourth 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 dropped 7 percent from 6,809 in the third quarter to 6,302 in the fourth quarter.
• Real Estate Owned (REO) Activity & Inventory: Enterprises' REO inventory declined 16 percent from 11,614 in the third quarter to 9,739 in the fourth quarter. The total number of property acquisitions decreased 7 percent to 1,141, while dispositions decreased 41 percent to 3,017 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.