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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to administer foreclosure prevention efforts while experiencing declines in delinquencies, foreclosures, and REO inventories, according to a ""report"":http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/25064/4q12fprfinal.pdf from the ""Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)."":http://www.fhfa.gov/
[IMAGE]The GSEs enacted 541,219 foreclosure prevention actions in 2012, contributing to a total of 2.7 million foreclosure prevention efforts since the enterprises came under government conservatorship in 2008, according to the report.
More than 1.3 million of these actions have taken the form of permanent loan modifications. While the government's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has contributed to this number, proprietary modifications continue to outpace HAMP.
Since HAMP's launch in April 2009, more than 1 million trial modifications have been administered through the program. Of these trials, just a little more than half--568,500 as of the end of the fourth quarter--have transpired into permanent modifications for homeowners.
[COLUMN_BREAK]In the fourth quarter of 2012, about 17,500 HAMP trials entered into permanent status.
GSE-backed homeowners who received loan modifications in the fourth quarter--both through HAMP and through proprietary programs--received an average reduction in monthly mortgage payment of more than 30 percent.
While proprietary modifications outpace HAMP in volume, HAMP modifications continue their record of better performance. As of the third quarter of 2012, 88 percent of HAMP-modified loans remained current after three months, while 81 percent of proprietary-modified loans were current after three months.
The GSEs continue to experience falling delinquencies and foreclosures and declining REO inventories.
The percentage of seriously delinquent loans at the GSEs fell from 3.39 percent in the third quarter to 3.27 percent in the fourth.
Over the year, delinquencies fell by a substantial 14 percent with the FHFA reporting declines in every state except New Jersey and New York.
Foreclosures fell about 3 percent and are now at their lowest level since the third quarter of 2008.
The GSEs' REO inventory declined from about 158,000 in the third quarter to about 155,000 in the fourth quarter.
More than 32,600 short sales and deeds-in-lieu were completed on GSE-backed properties in the fourth quarter. About 141,500 were completed throughout the year.
By state, Florida stands out as a weak spot for the GSEs. About 146,000 GSE-backed loans in the state are delinquent by more than one year--far-exceeding the states that rank second in this category--New Jersey and New York, where about 42,000 loans are more than one year delinquent.
