Housing Indicators Show Sustained Progress in Home
Prices and Relief to Underwater Borrowers
WASHINGTON- The U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of
the Treasury today released the December
edition of the Obama Administration's Housing Scorecard – a
comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market. Data continue to show important
progress across many key indicators with the housing marketing bottoming out
nationally and clearly turning a corner – as home values continue to rise and
home sales remained strong in November – although officials caution that the
overall recovery remains fragile. The full Housing Scorecard is available
online at www.hud.gov/scorecard.
“As the December housing scorecard indicates,
our housing market is continuing to show important signs of recovery – with the
FHFA and Case-Shiller housing price indices up 5.6% and 4.3%, respectively,
from one year ago,” said HUD Senior Advisor on Housing Finance Michael
Berman.
"The
Administration's programs to prevent foreclosure have helped millions of
families stay in their homes and prompted critical changes in the way the mortgage
industry assists struggling homeowners, which have helped our country recover
faster from an unprecedented housing crisis," said Treasury Assistant
Secretary for Financial Stability Tim Massad.
The
December Housing Scorecard features key data on the health of the housing
market and the impact of the Administration’s foreclosure prevention programs,
including:
- Home prices showed large annual gains
for the 12 months ending October 2012 and the Administration’s recovery efforts
continue to help millions of families deal with the worst economic crisis since
the Great Depression.
More than six million mortgage modification and other forms of assistance
arrangements were started between April 2009 and the end of November 2012. More
than 81,000 loans were refinanced under the Home Affordable Refinance Program
(HARP) in October, bringing the total to 790,600 since the beginning of 2012.
- The Administration's foreclosure
programs are providing relief for millions of homeowners as we continue to
recover from an unprecedented housing crisis. More than 1.4 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 million proprietary mortgage modifications through October.
- HAMP continues to offer homeowners
sustainable relief to avoid foreclosure. As of November, more than 1.1
million homeowners have received a permanent modification through the Home
Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), saving approximately $544 on their mortgage
payments each month, and an estimated $16.7 billion to date. In November, 77
percent of homeowners with eligible non-GSE mortgages benefited from principal
reduction with their HAMP modification. Eighty-seven percent of homeowners
entering the program in the last two and a half years have received a permanent
modification of their mortgage through HAMP. View
the Making Home Affordable Program Report with data through November 2012.
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