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GSEs Report Increase in Refinance Volumes, HAMP Modifications in December

The ""Federal Housing Finance Agency's"":http://www.fhfa.gov/ (FHFA) recently released its monthly Foreclosure Prevention Report, which summarizes loss mitigation activities for ""Fannie Mae"":http://www.fanniemae.com/kb/index?page=home and ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com/ through October 2009 and includes Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) modification data and refinance data through December 2009.

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Under the administration's HAMP, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) initiated more than 485,000 mortgage loan modifications through December 2009. Of

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these, 43,000 were HAMP permanent modifications, and 442,500 were active trials. Completed loan modifications declined to approximately 7,000 in October, down from 12,500 in September. In addition, repayment plans increased 12 percent, and forbearance plans soared 38 percent.

The GSEs' refinance volume also increased in December. As refinance volume is sensitive to mortgage rates with the effect most visible after a one or more month lag, total refinance volume rose in December in response to a gradual June to November decline in rates. In 2009, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refinanced more than 4 million loans, and over 190,000 were through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).

The FHFA's report also reported statistics regarding loan performance and foreclosures. Loans only one month delinquent decreased by 29,000 or nearly 4 percent in October to 705,000. However, loans 60-plus-days delinquent increased by more than 4 percent in October to 1.7 million. Compared with September, foreclosure starts increased 5 percent in October to nearly 77,900, and completed foreclosure and third-party sales increased 30 percent to 29,200 during the same period.