Foreclosure Prevention, Refinance and FPM Report - Third Quarter 2019

Published: 01/09/2020

Third Quarter 2019 Highlights - Foreclosure Prevention

The Enterprises completed 26,475 foreclosure prevention actions in the third quarter, bringing the total to 4,381,036 since the start of conservatorships in September 2008. Of these actions, 3,684,782 have helped troubled homeowners stay in their homes, including 2,373,957 permanent loan modifications.
Twenty-eight percent of modifications in the third quarter were modifications with principal forbearance. Modifications with extend-term only accounted for 66 percent of all loan modifications during the quarter.
There were 1,315 completed short sales and deeds-in-lieu during the quarter, bringing the total to 696,254 since the conservatorships began in September 2008.

The percentage of 60+ days delinquent loans dropped from 1.00 percent at the end of the second quarter to 0.96 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2019.
The Enterprises' serious (90 days or more) delinquency rate decreased to 0.65 percent at the end of the third quarter. This compared with 3.39 percent for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, 1.87 percent for Veterans Affairs (VA) loans, and 1.81 percent for all loans (industry average).

Foreclosure starts increased 2 percent to 29,970 while third-party and foreclosure sales decreased 5 percent to 9,670 in the third quarter.

Total refinance volume increased in September 2019 as mortgage rates fell in previous months to lows last observed in 2015. Mortgage rates decreased in September: the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell to 3.61 percent from 3.62 percent in August.

Borrowers completed 6 refinances through HARP, bringing total refinances from the inception of the program to 3,495,413.
HARP volume represented less than 1 percent of total refinance volume.
Borrowers who refinanced through HARP had a lower delinquency rate compared to borrowers eligible for HARP who did not refinance through the program.