Servicers of residential loans stepped up monthly activity on federally supported loan modifications, according to the Obama administration’s latest reading on the health of the nation’s housing market. Servicers were credited with doing better job implementing Making Home Affordable programs.
Mortgage servicers reported 16,003 permanent, first-lien loan modifications completed through the Home Affordable Modification Program during October.
Activity strengthened from September, when the metric was 13,849.
But servicers reported fewer permanent first-lien modifications than in October 2011, when the total was 26,102.
The statistics were reported in the Making Home Affordable Program Performance Report Through October 2012.
The number of active permanent HAMP modifications increased to 840,835 from September’s level of 834,635. That represented a gain of 6,200 during October. The prior month’s gain was just 2,974, while active permanent HAMP modifications grew by 14,852 in the same month last year.
Homeward Residential Inc. had the biggest increase of any servicer in October: 3,620. The gain left it with 31,207 active permanent HAMPs.
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., trailed with a gain of 1,565 active modifications, then 999 at Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, 319 at CitiMortgage Inc. and 271 at OneWest Bank.
The number of active permanent HAMP modifications was lower at both Bank of America, N.A., where it fell by 2,187, and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., which lost 1,656 active HAMPs.
The report said that servicers continue to show continued overall improvement in program implementation.
“As of October, more than 1.1 million homeowners have received a permanent modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program, saving approximately $542 on their mortgage payments each month, and an estimated $16.2 billion to date,” the report stated. “In October, 74 percent of homeowners with eligible non-GSE mortgages benefited from principal reduction with their HAMP modification.”
The Mortgage Insurance Companies of American reported that its members helped in the completion of 6,143 HAMP modifications on $1.1 billion in home loans during the third quarter.
MICAÂ members — including Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corp. Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. and Radian Guaranty Inc. — were also involved in 7,234 non-HAMP modifications on $1.4 billion in mortgages during the three months ended Sept. 30.
