Driven by falling proprietary activity, monthly loan modification volume has slowed down. But modifications completed through the Making Home Affordable initiative have increased.
U.S. mortgage servicers completed 49,990 loan modifications during October. The total included proprietary and government-supported modifications.
Activity was slower than in the previous month, when the number of loan modifications that were completed totaled 52,656.
Volume plummeted by nearly half compared to the same month last year, when HOPE NOW — which tracks and reports activity — said 88,583 modifications were completed.
Declining activity, however, could be a sign that the residential market is beginning to normalize and the process of winding down mass loan modifications could be starting.
Year-to-date Oct. 31, there have been 680,030 loan modifications completed.
HOPE NOW said that proprietary loan modifications accounted for 33,607 of the latest activity, down from 39,772 in September.
Proprietary volume has plunged by more than half since October 2012, when 72,580 modifications were completed.
October 2013 volume also included 16,383 modifications completed through the Home Affordable Modification Program, climbing from 12,884 a month earlier.
HAMP activity was also up from year earlier, when volume was 16,003.
HOPE NOW said 6.76 million modifications have been completed since it began tracking the data in 2007 — including 5.47 proprietary modifications and 1.29 million HAMPs.
