December Housing Scorecard Released

The Departments of Treasury and Housingrnand Urban Development have released their joint December 2011 HousingrnScorecard.  The report is essentially arnsummary of housing and housing finance data released by public and privaternsources over the previous month and/or quarter. rnMost of the data such as new and existing home sales, permits andrnstarts, mortgage originations, and various house price evaluations have beenrnpreviously covered by MND.  </p

The scorecard incorporates by referencernthe monthly report of the Making Home Affordable Program (MHA) through the endrnof November.  This includes informationrnon the universe of MHA programs including the Home Affordable ModificationrnProgram (HAMP), HOPE Now, and Second Lien Modifications (2MP) designed to helprnhomeowners with a second lien that is preventing or delaying a first lienrnmodification.  Metrics are also includedrnon the Principal Reduction Alternative (PRA) program which requires servicersrnof non-GSE loans to evaluate the benefit of principal reduction for mortgagesrnwith a loan-to-value ratio f 115 percent or larger when testing for a HAMPrnfirst-lien modification, the Unemployment Program (UP) which grants full orrnpartial forbearance for up to a year to homeowners who have lost their jobs, andrnthe Home Affordable Foreclosures Alternatives Program (HAFA) which allowsrnborrowers to exit homeownership through a deed-in-lieu or a short sale.  While it is not a program, the report alsorncovers FHA-HAMP modification activity which has involved 7,350 trialrnmodifications of FHA loans of which 4,659 are now permanent.</p

During November the administration initiatedrn19,059 trial modifications under the HAMP program compared to 21,445 inrnOctober.  This brings the total of trialsrnbegun since the program started in April 2009 to 1.755 million, 909,953 ofrnwhich have been converted to permanent modifications; 26,877 of these duringrnthe month of November.  Over 750,000 ofrnthese permanent modifications remained in force at the end of the reportingrnperiod.</p

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The Scorecard lists as the most commonrnreasons for the cancellation of trial modifications regardless of servicer as insufficientrndocumentation, payment default, and borrower ineligibility regarding the minimumrn31 percent debt-to-income ratio.  </p

When homeowners are not accepted for trialrnmodification or those modifications are cancelled, borrowers may be given otherrnalternatives.  The HAMP program reportsrnthat 39.7 percent of borrowers in cancelled modifications have been offeredrnalternative programs and 6.1 percent have engaged in a short-sale orrndeed-in-lieu of foreclosure.  Ten andrnone-half percent of borrowers have brought their loans current and 6.4 percentrnhave paid them off.  Foreclosures werernstarted on 16.3 percent of the borrowers and completed on 10.6 percent.  Where the borrower was not accepted for thernprogram 20.5 percent brought their loans current, 26.5 percent were offered anrnalternative modification and foreclosures were started on 15.2 percent andrncompleted on 7.6 percent.  Deed-in-lieurnand payoff figures were nearly identical for both ineligible and canceledrnborrowers.</p

Under HAFA, servicers have startedrn38,613 interventions of which 24,365 have been completed, all but 700 of whichrnwere short sales.  Eighty-three hundredrnborrowers remain active in the program.</p

PRA currently has 15,875 activernmodifications out of 57,656 started. rnThere are 36,454 permanent modifications in place with a median principalrnreduction of $66,308.</p

At the end of November 13,762 unemployedrnborrowers were under an UP partial payment forbearance and 2,871 under a planrnwith no payment required.  </p

The 2MP program has accepted 115,750rnborrowers as eligible and nearly half, 54,826 have started the second lienrnmodification process.  Of this numberrn9,772 second liens have been fully extinguished at an average value of $60,688,rn1,100 liens have been disqualified and 44,000 modifications remain active. </p

Interest in the various foreclosurernprevention activities apparently remains high. rnThe HOPE Now Hotline received 65,838 calls in November and 42,189rnborrowers were referred for free housing counseling  The Making Home Affordable website receivedrn2.6 million hits during the months and has received 132 million hits over itsrnhistory.

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