Housing
Indicators Show Sustained Progress in Home Prices and Significant Relief to
Underwater Borrowers
Quarterly
Servicer Assessments Show Mortgage Servicers Demonstrate Continued Improvement
in Implementation of the “Making Home Affordable Program”
WASHINGTON - The U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of
the Treasury today released the November edition of the Obama
Administration's Housing Scorecard – a comprehensive report on the nation’s
housing market. Data continue to show signs that the housing market is
strengthening – as home values continue to rise and home sales remained strong
in October. The full Housing Scorecard is available online at www.hud.gov/scorecard.
“The
Obama Administration’s efforts to speed housing recovery are showing continued
progress as the scorecard indicators highlight market momentum not seen since
before the housing crisis - six consecutive months of rising home prices have
bolstered homeowners equity, which is now $1.5 trillion higher than in April
2009,” said HUD Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research Erika
Poethig. “But with so many households still struggling to make ends meet, we
have important work ahead. That is why we are asking Congress to approve the
President’s refinancing proposal so that more homeowners can receive
assistance.”
Included
in this month’s Making
Home Affordable Program Report are detailed assessments from the
third quarter of 2012 for the largest mortgage servicers participating in the
program. The Servicer Assessments – first introduced in June 2011 and published
quarterly – have set a new standard for disclosure around servicer efforts to
assist struggling homeowners.
“The
Administration remains focused on continuing to improve standards for the
mortgage industry to help families avoid foreclosure,” said Treasury Assistant
Secretary for Financial Stability Tim Massad. “We continue to push the industry
to provide better service to homeowners while expanding the range of solutions
available to families facing mortgage concerns.”
Since
the inception of the Making Home Affordable Program, Treasury has required
participating servicers to take specific actions to improve their processes
through ongoing program reviews. The quarterly Servicer Assessments summarize
performance on metrics in three categories of program implementation:
identifying and contacting homeowners; homeowner evaluation and assistance; and
program reporting, management and governance. Results for the third quarter of
2012 show that servicers are focusing attention on areas identified in previous
program reviews and, as a result, are demonstrating continued improvement in
program implementation:
- Servicers are more effectively
evaluating homeowners under program eligibility criteria as seen in the
“second look disagree” category, which reflects the rate at which Treasury’s
program reviews disagree with the servicers’ decision to find a homeowner
ineligible for assistance. In the third quarter, the average second look
disagree percentage for the top servicers remained below one percent.
- Mortgage servicers continue to
accurately calculate homeowner income, which is used to determine a
homeowner’s eligibility and modified payment amount under the program. In the
third quarter, the average income calculation error rate for the top servicers
was below three percent, and two servicers had zero percent error rates.
For
the third quarter of 2012, two servicers were found to need only minor
improvement on the areas reviewed for program performance, while seven
servicers were found to need moderate improvement. Although servicer
performance in a particular compliance category can fluctuate from quarter to
quarter, in general, servicers continue to show continued overall improvement
in program implementation. All servicers, however, will need to continue to
demonstrate progress in any areas identified in follow-up program reviews.
The
November Housing Scorecard features key data on the health of the housing
market and the impact of the Administration’s foreclosure prevention programs,
including:
- The Administration's foreclosure
programs are providing relief for millions of homeowners as we continue to
recover from an unprecedented housing crisis. More than 1.3 million
homeowner assistance actions have taken place through the Making Home
Affordable Program, while the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has offered
more than 1.5 million loss mitigation and early delinquency interventions. The
Administration's programs continue to encourage improved standards and
processes in the industry, with HOPE Now lenders offering families and
individuals more than 3.2 million proprietary mortgage modifications through September.
- HAMP continues to offer homeowners
affordable and sustainable assistance to avoid foreclosure. As of October, more than 1.1 million
homeowners have received a permanent modification through the Home Affordable
Modification Program (HAMP), saving approximately $542 on their mortgage
payments each month, and an estimated $16.2 billion to date. In October, 74
percent of homeowners with eligible non-GSE mortgages benefitted from principal
reduction with their HAMP modification. Eighty-seven percent of homeowners
entering the program in the last two years have received a permanent
modification. View
the Making Home Affordable Program Report with data through October 2012.
Also
featured this month in the Administration’s Housing Scorecard Regional
Spotlight on market strength is Reno, Nevada. The challenges faced in the
Reno-Sparks housing market have been more severe than in most areas in the
nation.
“The
continuing signs of stability that the national data show for the broader
housing market are starting to show progress in Reno,” said Poethig. “The
Administration is working hard to help all homeowners who have been hit hard
during the crisis and, as this Regional Spotlight shows, our efforts have
helped nearly 10,000 Reno households avoid foreclosure. A modest local economic
recovery is underway, but we have much more to do to reach the many households
who still face trouble and to help the Reno market recover more broadly.”
The
Housing Scorecard Regional Spotlight features data on the health of the Reno
housing market and impact of efforts to help homeowners at the local level
including:
- Economic conditions in Reno are slowly improving,
but the local housing market remains fragile – with high concentrations of
distressed mortgages. Reno
homeowners continue to struggle with high rates of mortgage delinquency and
foreclosure as the area placed 49th out of 366 metropolitan areas ranked for
mortgages 90 or more days delinquent or in the foreclosure process.
- The Administration’s Hardest Hit Fund
and Neighborhood Stabilization Programs have fueled local foreclosure
prevention efforts and market stability, while more than 9,700 Reno households
have received mortgage modifications, many directly through Administration
programs.
Treasury provided $194 million to the state of Nevada to provide assistance to
struggling homeowners through the Hardest Hit Fund. The number of homeowners benefitting
from the program has continued to increase due to strong demand, and the state
expects to commit all of their funds on behalf of families in the near term –
well before the program end date of 2017. Moreover, approximately $29.9 million
has been awarded to Reno through HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program to
help purchase or redevelop residential properties and address the effects of
abandoned and foreclosed housing. Both programs have helped provide increased
stability to the Reno housing market.
- In addition, more than 10,000 Nevada homeowners
are currently benefiting from over $900 million in refinancing, short sales and
completed or trial loan modifications, including principal reduction on first
and second lien mortgages provided under the landmark National Mortgage
Servicing Settlement.
Nationwide, the settlement has provided more than $26.1 billion in consumer
relief benefits to over 300,000 families. That is in addition to the $2.5
billion in payments to participating states and $1.5 billion in direct payments
to borrowers who were foreclosed upon between 2008 and 2011.
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