Homeowners in HAMP continue to benefit from significant payment relief increasing the long-term likelihood of avoiding foreclosure. As of May, more than 1.2 million homeowners have received a permanent modification through HAMP, saving approximately $547 on their mortgage payments each month – a 39 percent savings from their previous payment. In May, 69 percent of homeowners with eligible non-GSE mortgages benefitted from principal reduction with their HAMP modification. Homeowners currently in permanent HAMP modifications have been granted an estimated $10.6 billion in total principal reduction.
Also featured this month in the Administration’s Housing Scorecard is a regional spotlight on market strength in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. The foreclosure crisis in Portland developed later and differently than in other areas of the nation. While home price appreciation during the housing bubble peaked later and rose less steeply in Portland than it did nationally, home prices fell nearly as sharply.
“While Portland’s economy was hit harder by the recession than the nation as a whole, it has nonetheless had a somewhat stronger recovery. Portland’s housing market is also recovering a bit faster than the national data show for the broader housing market,” says Usowski. “As this Regional Spotlight reports, the Administration’s efforts have helped nearly 35,000 Portland households avoid foreclosure. But as legal issues that have recently slowed the foreclosure process in Oregon are settled, we still have much to do to reach the many households who still face trouble and to help the Portland market’s continuing recovery.”
The Housing Scorecard Regional Spotlight features data on the health of the Portland metropolitan housing market and impact of efforts to help homeowners at the local level including:
Economic and housing market conditions in Portland are improving. The unemployment rate for the region peaked at 11.1 percent in May 2009 and has since fallen to 7.3 percent as of May 2013.The foreclosure completion rate in Portland has been comparable to the national rate since April 2009, and foreclosures have been trending downward in Portland as well as nationally.
