​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its fourth quarter 2022 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report. The report shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) completed 52,469 foreclosure prevention actions during the quarter, raising the total number of homeowners who have been helped to 6,712,833 since the start of conservatorships in September​ 2008.

The report also shows 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 quarter.

The Enterprises’ 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 (FHA) loans, 2.43 percent for Veterans Affairs (VA) loans, and 1.89 percent for all loans (industry average).

Other highlights from the report include:

• Forbearance: As of December 31, 2022, there were 81,173 loans in forbearance, representing approximately 0.26 percent of the Enterprises single-family conventional book of business, up from 78,432 or 0.25 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2022. Approximately 3 percent of these loans have been on a forbearance plan for more than 12 months.
• Mortgage Performance: The 60+ day delinquency rate increased slightly from 0.83 percent at the end of the third quarter to 0.84 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. The delinquency rates remained slightly higher than pre-coronavirus rates due to the forbearance programs offered to borrowers affected by the pandemic.
• Foreclosures: The number of foreclosure starts increased 8 percent to 18,693 while third-party and foreclosure sales dropped 8 percent to 3,297 in the fourth quarter.
• ​ Real Estate Owned (REO) Activity & Inventory: The Enterprises’ REO inventory increased 7 percent from 10,251 in the third quarter to 10,997 in the fourth quarter of 2022, 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.​
  

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​.​