FHFA prevented 43K foreclosures in Q3, but new cases rose 27%
The (FHFA) on Thursday announced the opening of 43,459 foreclosure prevention actions in the third quarter of 2024, bringing the total number of homeowners it has helped since the (GSEs) entered conservatorship in 2008 to more than 7 million. But the number of starts increased by 27% during the quarter to 22,025.
This is stated in the information of the agency. FHFA also found that 35% of all loan modifications completed in the third quarter resulted in an average reduction of “more than 20%” in borrowers' monthly payments, and refinances increased by 9,214 from Q2 to a total of 98,785 in Q3.
The GSEs' serious delinquency rate rose slightly to 0.53% in Q3, but was still below (3.63%) and (2.26%) for loans financed by (2.26%) as well as the industry average of 1 is lower than .55%.
also increased to 39,669 loans in Q3 as of Sept. 30, or about 0.13% of the GSEs' single-family conventional book of business. That's up from 31,827 (or 0.1%) at the end of June, with the agency noting that about 1% of those loans were in forbearance plans for more than 12 months.
The 60-plus-day delinquency rate also rose to 0.75% in the third quarter from 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Along with a 27% increase in foreclosure originations, third-party and collateral sales also rose 3.2% to 3,039.
“In the third quarter of 2024, overall volumes increased as mortgage rates eased, but remained above levels seen through 2021,” he said. Mortgage rates fell between June and September: the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell from 6.92% to 6.18%.
Over the past three years, cash loans accounted for 82% of all refinancing, but this share fell to 59% in September. “Low mortgage rates have increased opportunities for non-cash borrowers to refinance with lower interest rates and lower their monthly payments,” the report explains.
