The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released the Federal Property Manager’s 21-page Foreclosure Prevention, Refinance Report [1] for October 2020. The full document details the entire month, but here are some highlights.
When it came to refinancing, October continued to raise numbers. A record-breaking month for refinancing, decreasing mortgage rates incentivized more people to refinance their existing properties. In fact, the already-low September mortgage rate of 2.89% fell a few more hundredths of a point to 2.83%.
Since the program’s inception in September of 2008, 107 refinances were completed through the High LTV refinance option. Two were completed in October.
Cash-out refinances were on the rise, but only marginally. After hitting a low of 25% in August and steadily increasing during September, they hit 26% in October. With the continuous decrease in mortgage rates, there are more opportunities for on cash-out borrowers to get lower rates and lower monthly payments when they refinance.
As for foreclosure prevention actions in October, the total since September 2008 has risen to 5, 391,530. October’s number is 166,189, 45%, or 2,890, of which were permanent loan modifications. The total number of permanent loan modifications since the program began is 2,434,509.
The COVID-19 related forbearance plan saw an increase in activity. In October, 83,384 borrowers received payment deferrals compared to 72,589 in September.
However, initiated forbearance plans saw a decreased 9%. This sets the total number of loans in forbearance plans at 922,589 versus 1,045,808 the month before.
October also saw 315 short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, which is a seven percent rise compared with September.
Foreclosure and third-party sales went up 19% to 741, but foreclosure starts decreased 13%.
The 30-59 days delinquency rate also decreased, hitting 1.01%. The serious delinquency rate fell, as well, to 2.99%. September’s rate was 3.14%.
For much more information, read the entire Federal Property Manager’s Foreclosure Prevention, Refinance Report [1] for October 2020.