Foreclosure starts rebounded in May and June after falling sharply in April, but loan modifications continued to outpace foreclosure sales during the second quarter, according to the latest report from loan servicers participating in the "Hope Now" program.
The latest Hope Now report showed foreclosure starts — which fell 25 percent from March to April, to just over 160,000 — rebounding to 181,866 in May and 195,721 in June. Foreclosure sales remained nearly constant at around 70,000 per month, while loan servicers modified loans at the rate of about 80,000 per month.
In the first six months of the year, loan servicers completed an estimated 558,125 loan modifications, down 42 percent from the same period a year ago. Most loan modifications completed in the first half of 2011 — 374,704 — were granted outside the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
Despite the dramatic decline in loan modifications, they still exceeded foreclosure sales by more than 126,000 in the first half of 2011.
Foreclosure starts were down 9 percent during the first half of 2011 from a year ago, to 1.14 million, while foreclosure sales were down 25 percent, to 431,801.
The number of mortgages with payments late by 60 days or more declined by 27 percent, to 2.73 million.
Since 2007, 3.7 million homes have been sold through foreclosure, while homeowners have received 4.7 million permanent loan modifications.
