Hope Now March mortgage modification data shows an estimated 207,000 homeowners received permanent modifications in the first quarter of 2012, representing a decline of 31% from Q1 2011.
Of the more than 200,000 modifications completed, about 147,000 were proprietary. Reduced principal and interest payments made up about 77%, or 113,000, of proprietary modifications. Those with reduced principal or interest payments by 10% or more accounted for the majority at 72%, or 105,000 of all proprietary modifications.
Additionally, 90% of all proprietary modifications were fixed-rate modifications with an initial fixed period of five years or more.
The remaining 60,225 modifications were completed under HAMP, making up just over one third of the total number, down from 90,536 in the same quarter of last year. This number has been on the decline for more than six months.
Hope Now also reported improvement from Q1 2011 in foreclosures. Foreclosure starts were 545,000 in the first quart of 2012, a decrease of 8% from 591,000 during the same period of last year. Completed foreclosures sales were down 4%, with 545,000 in Q1 2012 compared to 223,000 in Q1 2011. Finally, delinquencies of 60 days or more for the month of April were at 2.65 million, down from 2.86 million in the first quarter of 2011 — a decrease of 7%.
Hope Now is a non-government iniative promoting foreclosure prevention among mortgage servicers.
