HOPE NOW estimates that approximately 147,000 loan modifications closed in September, including 27,840 Home Affordable Modification Program loan rewrites and 120,000 proprietary loan mods. During the month, the number of completed foreclosure sales rose from 102,000 to 120,000.
The total number of loan modifications with principal-and-interest (P&I) payment reductions declined slightly for the month – 93,000 compared to 105,000 in August – but 78% of the total proprietary modifications completed in September provide a reduced monthly payment for homeowners. A little more than half of proprietary modifications had P&I reductions of more than 10%, and roughly 82% of servicers' modifications had a fixed-rate period of five years or more, according to HOPE NOW's statistics.
"The most important takeaway from HOPE NOW's September data is that we now have good metrics on the sustainability of proprietary loan modifications being done by our servicer members,’ says Faith Schwartz, senior adviser for HOPE NOW.
Foreclosure starts, meanwhile, increased from 245,000 in August to 250,000 in September. The number of loans that were delinquent for 60 days or more remained flat from August to September, at about 3.2 million.
Total permanent loan modifications exceed 1.4 million for the year, HOPE NOW says.
SOURCE: HOPE NOW