Mortgage performance during the first quarter of 2012 was the best in three years according to the Office of Comptroller of the Currency's (OCC's) Mortgage Metrics Report. Percentages of mortgages that were 30 to 59 and 60 to 89 days delinquent were at the lowest level since at least the first quarter of 2008 when Metrics was first published. The percentage of mortgages current and performing at the end of the quarter was 88.9 percent up 1.1 percent from the previous quarter and 0.3 percent from a year earlier. OCC attributed the improvement in performance to several factors including strengthening economic conditions, seasonal effects, servicing transfers, and the ongoing effects of both home retention programs and home forfeiture actions.
The quality of government guaranteed mortgages improved during the quarter with current and performing mortgages at 85.9 percent of the portfolio compared to 84.2 percent in the previous quarter but down from 87.0 a year earlier. Mortgages serviced for the two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made up 59 percent of servicer portfolios and 93.7 percent of these loans were current and performing, a percentage that has changed little over the past year.
New foreclosures initiated during the quarter were down 1.8 percent to 286,951 which OCC said reflected the emphasis on home retention actions as well as a decrease in delinquencies. Many servicers have also slowed new foreclosures in response to changing servicing standards and requirements.
Completed foreclosures increased to 122,979-up 5.9 percent from the previous quarter and 2.7 percent from the first quarter of 2011. The inventory of foreclosures in process increased from the previous quarter to 1,269,921, but is down from 1,308,757 a year ago. Deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, and short-sales brought the total number of home forfeiture actions to 185,781 during the quarter, an increase of 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011 and 8.3 percent from a year earlier.
Servicers initiated 352,989 home retention actions during the quarter and have initiated more than 2.2 million such actions including modifications, trial-period plans, and payment plans over the last five quarters. At the end of the first quarter of 2012, 50.7 percent of modifications remained current or were paid off. Modifications made since 2008 that reduced borrower monthly payments by 10 percent or more performed better (57.6 percent remained current) than those that reduced payments by less than 10 percent (36.8 percent.)
On average, modifications implemented in the first quarter of 2012 reduced monthly principal and interest payments by $437, which is 31 percent more than modifications implemented during the first quarter of 2011. HAMP modification reduced payments by $588 on average and those modifications performed better than others, with 68.2 percent remaining current compared to 53.4 percent of modifications done by others. OCC said HAMP's performance reflects the significantly reduced monthly payments, the program's emphasis on affordability relative to borrower income, required income verification, and the successful completion of a required trial period.
