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The Federal Housing Finance Agency ( FHFA ), conservator for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (the Enterprises) said on Thursday that, while modifications of loans tied to the Enterprises declined in the second quarter of 2011, those modifications continue to be robust . Voluntary home forfeiture actions, both short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure increased as did the pace of REO disposition. The Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report issued by FHFA includes actions taken on Enterprise loans...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has modified the existing policies related to two of its assistance programs to give unemployed homeowners additional time to obtain a job before losing their homes. The changes impact FHA requirements and the Making Home Affordable (MHA) program. The changes to the FHA's Special Forbearance Program will require its servicers to increase the minimum forbearance period for qualified homeowners from four months to 12 and servicers participating...

The Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Treasury issued their joint Housing Scorecard for May on Thursday. The big news is that the Administration is finally moving to penalize servicers who have consistently failed to meet the goals of the Making Home Affordable Program, which is designed to help homeowners who have fallen behind on their loan payments. The Scorecard contains results of new Servicers' Assessments, which summarize performance for the 10 largest loan servicers. The assessments...

The March edition of the Obama Administration's Housing Scorecard again remarks on the fragility of the U.S. housing market and the need to continue efforts to help homeowners stay in those homes. The Scorecard, issued jointly by the Departments of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is largely a recap of data released by other sources such as the Census Bureau, S&P Case-Schiller , RealtyTrac and the National Association of Realtors. The fragility is demonstrated by a decline in...

Three Federal Reserve economists are out to debunk the theory that reducing principal balances on mortgage loans is a no-cost cure for the housing crisis. The three, Kris Gerardi, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Chris Foote, and Paul Willen, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, recently published their paper, The Seductive but Flawed Logic of Principal Reduction , in the Atlanta Fed banks' Real Estate Research Blog. The idea that a reduction program would cure housing ills has been kicking around since...

Even as the Department of Housing and Urban Development was publishing an announcement of the program's regulations in the Federal Register , the House Financial Services Committee was voting to kill the Emergency Homeowner's Loan Program (EHLP). The program was intended to help homeowners who are temporarily un- or underemployed stay in their homes. It was originally established in 1975 before being resurrected by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which authorized $1...

The U.S. Departments of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have jointly issued the January Housing Scorecard . The Scorecard is a round-up of most national housing data including reports for the Census Department, National Association of Realtors® (NAR), S&P/Case-Shiller, etc., all of which has been published on MND already. The focus of the Housing Scorecard this month is the Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP), the joint Treasury/HUD initiative to modify delinquent mortgages...