Mortgage servicers modified 70,000 home loans in April, bringing the total to 6.39 million modifications since 2007, according to data from HOPE NOW.
HOPE NOW, a private alliance of mortgage servicers, investors and insurers and non-profits, releases monthly data tracking the number of loans saved through servicers’ proprietary modification programs and the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP.
Of the homeowners receiving modifications in April, 58,000 benefited from proprietary loan mods, while 11,966 received adjustments through HAMP.
Since 2007, servicers have delivered 5.2 million proprietary loan modifications to U.S. borrowers.
Despite a large number of borrowers saved, foreclosures remain a significant part of the real estate buying-and-selling cycle.
Foreclosure sales in the same month of April edged up 14% from March, hitting 59,000 sales total.
Foreclosure starts, on the other hand, reached 115,000 starts – a figure mostly unchanged from March.
Approximately 27,000 short sales were finalized in April, bringing the short sale total to 1.26 million in four years.
Serious delinquencies also declined 9% in April, with 2.17 million loans classified as 60 days or more past due, down from 2.38 million a month earlier.
Of the proprietary loan modifications completed, 93% included a fixed-interest rate of five years or more, while 83% included reduced principal and monthly interest payments.
Loans modified with more than 10% reductions in principal and interest payments accounted for 76% of the total modifications.
