Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have reduced their portfolios of seriously delinquent loans by 25% over the past year, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. But they still have a huge number of bad loans to work through.
The two GSEs combined had 724,000 loans on their books that are 90 days or more past due or in the process of foreclosure as of Sept. 30. At the end of the third quarter of 2012, the two GSEs had 969,000 seriously delinquent loans.
In addition, they ended 3Q with an inventory of 148,000 foreclosed properties, compared to 158,000 in 3Q 2012. Fannie and Freddie completed 50,277
The FHFA 3Q Foreclosure Prevention Report points out that the GSEs completed nearly 100,900 loan modifications and other foreclosure prevention actions in 3Q, bringing the total to more than 3 million since the start of conservatorship in September 2008. Approximately 2.5 million of these actions have helped troubled homeowners save their homes including nearly 1.5 million permanent loan modifications, according to the FHFA report released Monday.
"Three million completed foreclosure prevention actions is a significant achievement," said FHFA acting director Edward DeMarco. “I am grateful for the persistent effort of everyone at FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who have contributed to reaching this milestone.”
