Completed Foreclosure Actions from GSEs Slow in Q2 to 129K

In the second quarter of 2012, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed more than 129,007 foreclosure prevention actions, raising the year-to-date total to 275,106, the ""Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)"":http://www.fhfa.gov, which is the GSEs' conservator and regulator, reported Wednesday.

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The second quarter total is a decrease from the first quarter of 2012, when the GSEs completed 146,099 foreclosure prevention actions, and also a drop from the 167,629 foreclosure prevention actions in the second quarter of 2011, according to the FHFA report.

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Foreclosure prevention actions include loan mods, repayment plans, forbearance plans, short sales and other plans that offer an option outside of foreclosure.

Since 2008, the start of the conservatorship, the GSEs have completed nearly 2.4 million foreclosure prevention actions, 1.2 million of which included permanent loan mods.

Nearly half of borrowers who received a loan mod saw their monthly payments reduced by more than 30 percent.

In addition, modified loans maintained strong performance, with 13 percent of loans modified in the third quarter of 2011 re-defaulting into 60-plus delinquency status.

For the seventh straight month, REO inventory declined as more properties exited the stock of inventory than entered. Property dispositions stood at 74,743, while property acquisitions were fewer at 63,816 in the second quarter.

Overall, REO inventory at the end of the second quarter totaled 162,537, down from 173,464 in the first quarter of this year and 196,318 in the second quarter of 2011.