26,000 U.S. Loan Mods in January

Total non-foreclosure solutions during January totaled roughly 102,000, according to new data from HOPE NOW. In comparison, approximately 33,000 foreclosure sales were completed during the first month of 2016.

Approximately 26,000 homeowners received permanent affordable loan modifications from mortgage servicers during January—down from 29,000 in December 2015—with an estimated 19,000 going through proprietary programs and the remainder going through HAMP. There were fewer short sales in January—5,700, versus 6,500 one month earlier—but more deed in-lieus—1,700, up from 1,400 in the prior month.

January saw increases in foreclosure starts (58,000, a six percent rise), foreclosure sales (33,000, a 35 percent spike) and serious delinquencies (1.84 million, up 14 percent). But HOPE NOW Executive Director Erik Selk was not perturbed by these numbers.

“Our data indicates that the housing market is taking the necessary steps towards recovery,” he said. “Although the foreclosure starts, sales and serious delinquency numbers increased in January, we usually see this trend in our historical data.  Despite these jumps, over 102,000 homeowners received a home retention or non-foreclosure solution – a four percent increase from December. And although permanent modifications decreased in January, servicers continue to utilize other solutions such as repayment or retention plans to aid at-risk homeowners.”