The number of US home owners who received help either from government programmes or banks fell 17 percent in Q3 to 470,000, according to a report released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision.
The federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) saw a 46 percent drop from the previous quarter, with only 59,000 loans modified under the HAMP and another 44,000 loans in a three-month trial period, where if borrowers were able to make payments for three months, the modification becomes permanent.
It is believed that HAMP’s numbers are decreasing because eligible borrowers who have not been evaluated is running dry. Officials said they would help up to 4 million home owners avoid foreclosure, but it was estimated in December that the programme would end up modifying only 700,000 to 800,000 loans.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said there will be around 1.8 million foreclosed homes in the US when the final numbers for 2010 are reviewed. Moody’s estimated that home foreclosures will likely peak in 2011 at 2.1 million.
As the US economy slowly improves and the jobless rate eases out, fewer home owners are falling behind on their loans, which could limit the number of foreclosures in the future.