WASHINGTON – Although the number of foreclosure completions and distressed-home sales continued to rise in the third quarter, new foreclosure proceedings nationwide fell 2.6 percent compared with the second quarter, according to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS).
Their quarterly “OCC and OTS Mortgage Metrics Report” relies on data from nine national banks, including Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), and five thrifts.
Newly initiated foreclosure procedings fell to 281,298 in the third quarter, compared with 288,689 in the second quarter and 280,161 in the first quarter, the U.S. Treasury offices found.
Newly initiated home-retention actions – loan modifications and payment plans intended to help borrowers stay in their homes – increased by 13 percent compared with the second quarter, the survey also found.
Despite these efforts, however, the percentage of home mortgages that were current and performing mortgages fell to 91.47 percent at the end of the third quarter, down from 93.33 percent at the end of the first quarter.
The number of completed foreclosures rose to 127,738 in the July-to-October period, a 7.96-percent increase from the preceding quarter. And they continued to rise in November, based on a private report last week from RealtyTrac Inc. (READ MORE)
Meanwhile, third-quarter distressed-property sales, including short sales, rose to 141,835, an 11.3-percent increase from the 2008 second quarter, the government survey found.
“One very troubling point is that – whether measured using 30-day or 60-day delinquencies – re-default rates increased each month and showed no signs of leveling off after six months,” U.S. Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan said in yesterday’s report. “This trend of increasing delinquencies underscores the need to understand why these modifications have not been more sustainable.”
For additional information about the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision – including the 38-page “OCC and OTS Mortgage Metrics Report: Disclosure of National Bank and Federal Thrift Mortgage Loan Data, Third Quarter 2008” – visit www.occ.treas.gov or www.ots.treas.gov.
