Housing Market Recovery Remains Fragile

Housing prices remained level in July after 30 straight months of decline, according to the August edition of the Obama Administration’s Housing Scorecard. The report released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of the Treasury on Aug. 20 showed that historic low interest rates continued to promote home affordability and refinancing options for families, however, the market remains fragile with foreclosure starts showing a slight increase and serious delinquencies continuing to work through the pipeline. Both foreclosure starts and foreclosure completions went up slightly in July from the previous month, but remain well below July 2009 levels. “While there has been some stabilization in the housing market, it remains clear that we have more work ahead,” said HUD Assistant Secretary Raphael Bostic. “Through the Obama Administration’s efforts over the past 16 months, we have seen increased price stabilization and improved home affordability for prospective, qualified homebuyers. At the same time, we know that we must continue to provide support to underwater borrowers, unemployed homeowners, and to the nation’s hardest hit neighborhoods.” According to the report, more than 3.15 million modification arrangements were done from April 2009 through the end of June 2010. This includes more than 1.3 million trial Home Affordable Modification Program modifications started, over 472,000 Federal Housing Administration loss mitigation and early delinquency interventions, and 1.4 million proprietary modifications under HOPE Now. The number of agreements offered continues to more than double foreclosure completions for the same period (1.24 million). Each month, the Housing Scorecard incorporates key housing market indicators and highlights the impact of the Administration’s housing recovery efforts, including assistance to homeowners through the FHA and HAMP. The complete Housing Scorecard available at: www.hud.gov/scorecard.