Short Sale News: HOPE NOW Reports 38,000 Short Sales in May

HOPE NOW released its May loan modification data Monday, revealing that the month saw nearly 38,000 completed short sales.

The May short sale total brings the organization’s overall total (since December 2009) to nearly 906,000. Executive director Faith Schwartz said that short sales have contributed greatly to HOPE NOW’s foreclosure prevention efforts.

“We have been tracking short sales for almost two years, and we now have meaningful data that shows the impact of short sales on the housing market,” said Faith Schwartz, executive director of HOPE NOW. “Since 2007, the industry has completed 6.43 million permanent solutions, which includes short sales and loan modifications. This figure compares to 4.5 million foreclosure sales in the same period of time-and shows that real progress has been made by the industry, non-profits, and government on behalf of at-risk homeowners since the housing crisis began.”

In addition, HOPE NOW reported that an estimated 63,000 homeowners received permanent, affordable loan modifications during the month, 17,590 of which were completed under HAMP. Approximately 45,000 loan modifications were completed via proprietary programs.

An estimated 81 percent of all proprietary modifications were mods with reduced principal and interest payments-73 percent of proprietary modifications reduced principal and interest payments by 10 percent or more. Fixed-rate modifications accounted for 90 percent of all proprietary modifications.

May saw increases in both foreclosure starts and sales compared to April’s data. Foreclosure starts were up 15 percent to 204,000 in May (compared to 177,000 in April), and completed foreclosure sales were up 9 percent to 65,000 (from 60,000 in April).

Delinquencies of 60 days or more remained relatively flat at 2.53 million (from April’s 2.52 million).

HOPE NOW’s release reaffirmed the organization’s focus on aggressive borrower outreach and noted its commitment to maintaining a high profile at outreach events, including several at military bases in the second half of the year.

“Foreclosures still have a negative impact on communities across the country, and our highest priority remains proper education and implementation of alternatives to foreclosure,” said Schwartz.