Monthly Housing Scorecard: Administration Touts Increased Price Stabilization

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury have released the August edition of the Obama Administration's Housing Scorecard. The August 2010 Scorecard was marked primarily byrnhow few changes were evidenced since the July Report. </p

Housing prices have been relativelyrnflat on a month to month basis since January 2009 when they ended their 30 month decline.  Historic low interest rates continued tornpromote home affordability and refinancing options for the nation's families, but few people were taking advantage of it either to purchase a home orrnrefinance their existing one.  Overall, the market remains fragile withrnforeclosure starts showing a slight increase and serious delinquenciesrncontinuing to work through the pipeline. MND has described the housing market as “stagnant”.</p

“While there has been some stabilization in the housing market, itrnremains clear that we have more work ahead,” said HUD Assistant SecretaryrnRaphael Bostic. “Through the Obama Administration's efforts over the pastrn16 months, we have seen increased price stabilization and improved homernaffordability for prospective, qualified homebuyers. At the same time, we knowrnthat we must continue to provide support to underwater borrowers, unemployedrnhomeowners, and to the nation's hardest hit neighborhoods.” </p

Attempts to streamline the HomernAffordable Mortgage Program (HAMP) by requiring homeowners to submit thernnecessary documentation up front in order and thus cut down the amount of time theyrnspend in trial modifications have resulted in a reduction in the number ofrnhomeowners entering the program.  It isrnhoped that the dip is temporary and that the change will move borrowers throughrnthe program faster and ultimately result in more permanent modifications. </p

24,600 distressed homebuyers enteredrninto a HAMP trial since the July report compared to 38,700 the monthrnbefore.  Permanent modifications alsorndropped with 36,100 homeowners converting to permanent modification statusrncompared to 51,200 a month earlier. rnSince the HAMP program began in the late winter of 2009 1.31 millionrnhomeowners have entered HAMP trials, and 434,700 have converted to permanent modifications.  </p

Other assistance to homeownersrnwas provided by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) which provided lossrnmitigation interventions to 56,100 homeowners last month compared to 32,900 thernmonth before and HOPE Now which provided modifications to 123,200 borrowers inrnJune, the latest month for which figures are available, compared to 112,100 inrnMay. </p

Delinquent mortgages declinedrnslightly to 1.86 million prime mortgages, 1.91 million subprime, and 559,600rnFHA mortgages.  Each figure represented arndecrease of less than 1.5 percent or less from the previous reportingrnperiod.  97,100 homes entered thernforeclosure process in July compared to 96,200 in June; auctions were scheduledrnon 135,200 homes, up from 132,100 in June and 92,900 homes were taken as ownedrnreal estate compared to 85,500.     </p

The number of homeowners who arernunderwater on their mortgages is estimated at 11.28 million, a slightrnimprovement over the June figure of 11.32 million.  Aggregate home equity increased an estimatedrn28.6 billion.</p

Mortgage originations continue tornbe in the range of dismal.  The preliminaryrncount of conventional refinancings during the month was 1.13 million andrnpurchase originations totaled 925,000. rnRefinancings were up about 80,000 from June figures which were adjustedrnupwards slightly from earlier estimates. rnPurchase originations were substantially than those a month earlier, butrnthe revised figures for June, 614.700, were cut almost in half from thernpreliminary figure announced earlier.  FHA originations were down dramatically fromrnthe previous month.  27,000 FHA refinancingsrnwere completed compared to a revised figure of 32,000 in June and purchase originationsrndropped from an upwardly revised June figure of 128,100 to 63,000.  Purchases by first time home buyers droppedrnfrom 89,700 to 47,300. </p

AUGUST SCORECARD</p

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