The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released its first-quarter 2020 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report, which shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 26,910 foreclosure prevention actions in the first quarter, bringing to 4.4 million the number of troubled homeowners who have been helped during conservatorships.
Of these actions, 3.7 million of the foreclosure prevention actions have helped troubled homeowners stay in their homes.
Other report highlights include the following:
Forbearance: Newly initiated forbearance plans rose to 170,533 in the first quarter, up from 6,975 in the fourth quarter of 2019. A majority of the forbearance actions occurred as a result of the GSEs’ response to COVID-19 impacts.
Loan modifications: Of the 16,773 loan modifications completed, 38% reduced borrowers’ monthly payments by more than 20%; 64% were extend-term only; and 23% were modifications with principal forbearance.
Foreclose starts and sales: 7,704 third-party and foreclosure sales were completed, down 9% compared with the fourth quarter of 2019. Foreclosure starts decreased 3% from 30,010 in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 28,978 in the first quarter of 2020.
Refinances: The refi share increased to 747,464 in the first quarter, from 728,842 in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The GSEs’ serious (90 days or more) delinquency rate decreased to 0.64% at the end of the first quarter. This compared with 3.29% for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, 1.8% for Veterans Affairs (VA) loans, and 1.67% for all loan types.
The full report can be access here.
