The foreclosure crisis in the Midwest developed earlier and differently than in other areas of the nation.
As a result, the Obama administration’s Housing Scorecard for January highlighted this region, specifically focusing on the foreclosure crisis in Detroit and Michigan.
“As this regional spotlight shows, the administration’s efforts have helped nearly 100,000 Detroit households avoid foreclosure,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs Kurt Usowski at the U.S. Department of Housing of Urban Development.
“A modest local economic recovery is under way, but we have much more to do to reach the many households who still face trouble and to help the Detroit market recover more broadly.”
Economic conditions in Detroit are improving despite the city experiencing a much higher rate of foreclosure and unemployment than the rest of the nation, the report noted.
Nearly 7% of housing units were foreclosed since 2009, the rate dropped to 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Additionally, the administration’s Hardest Hit Fund and Neighborhood Stabilization Programs fueled local foreclosure prevention efforts and market stability. Thus, almost 100,000 households have received mortgage modifications through administration programs through December, the report stated.
Approximately $208 million has been awarded to Detroit through HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program to help redevelop and purchase residential properties, addressing the effects of both abandoned as well as foreclosed housing.
Additionally, more than 10,000 Michigan homeowners are benefiting from $500 million in refinancing, short sales and completed or trial loan modifications. This included principal reductions on first lien and second lien mortgages under the National Mortgage Servicing Settlement.
Nationally, the settlement provided more than $26.1 billion in consumer benefits to more than 300,000 families.
The Making Home Affordable Program has assisted nearly 1.5 million distressed borrowers since its inception.
HOPE Now lenders alone offered families and individuals more than 3 million proprietary mortgage modifications. HOPE New is an industry alliance of mortgage lenders.
Similarly, the Federal Housing Administration offered more than 1.5 million loss mitigation and early delinquency interventions.
“Making Home Affordable has directly helped more than 1 million homeowners avoid foreclosure and indirectly helped millions more by prompting critical changes in the way the mortgage industry assists struggling homeowners,” said Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Tim Massad.
“Every foreclosure avoided has positive impacts for families, communities, and our economy,” he said.
As of December, more than 1.1 million homeowners received a permanent modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program. About 87% of homeowners started the program since about 2010.
Homeowners currently in HAMP permanent modifications with some form of principal reduction were granted an estimated $8.8 billion in relief. Of all nongovernment-sponsored enterprise loans eligible for principal reduction entering HAMP in December, 71% ended up obtaining a principal writedown.
In December, more than 103,000 second-lien modifications were completed through the Second Lien Modification Program.
The highest HAMP modifications in the nation were in California, Florida and Illinois.
Click on the map to view HAMP modifications by state.
Since the inception of the Making Home Affordable Program, Treasury required participating servicers to take specific actions to improve processes through ongoing program reviews.
The top three servicers for December were Bank of America (BAC), CitiMortgage (C), and GMAC Mortgage (GMA).
