According to the first quarter 2023 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report recently released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 58,268 foreclosure prevention actions during the quarter. That figure raises the total number of homeowners who have been helped to 6,771,101 since the start of conservatorships in September 2008.
The report also shows that 35 percent of loan modifications completed in the first quarter reduced borrowers’ monthly payments by more than 20 percent. The number of refinances decreased amid rising mortgage rates from 111,251 in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 78,445 in the first quarter of 2023.
The GSEs’ serious delinquency rate declined slightly from 0.65% to 0.60% at the end of the first quarter. This compares with 4.01% for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, 2.26% for Veterans Affairs (VA) loans, and 1.73% for all loans (industry average).
Other highlights from the report include:
- Forbearance: As of March 31, 2023, there were 65,757 loans in forbearance, representing approximately 0.21% of the enterprises’ single-family conventional book of business, down from 81,173 or 0.26% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. Approximately 3% of these loans have been on a forbearance plan for more than 12 months.
- Mortgage Performance: The 60+ day delinquency rate decreased slightly from 0.84% at the end of the fourth quarter to 0.75% at the end of the first quarter of 2023.
- Foreclosures: The number of foreclosure starts increased 6% to 19,809 while third-party and foreclosure sales rose 12% to 3,700 in the first quarter.
- Real Estate Owned (REO) Activity & Inventory: The GSEs’ REO inventory increased 2% from 10,997 in the fourth quarter to 11,190 in the first quarter of 2023, as REO acquisitions outpaced property dispositions. The total number of property acquisitions decreased slightly to 1,692, while dispositions rose 56% to 1,529 during the quarter.
Photo by Ian MacDonald on Unsplash.
