Administration reports continued gains in housing help (HousingWire)

HousingWire
(2/7/2014 4:43 PM, Trey Garrison)

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of the Treasury sent out its recent self-evaluation and both entities are pleased with the progress of the housing recovery.

However, the report card states that despite positive trends in the housing market, there is still a ways to go.

The report states that home sales had their strongest performance in 2013 in several years. Foreclosure starts are also at their lowest annual level since 2005 and homeowners’ equity is up $3.4 trillion since the beginning of 2012.

According to the report, more than 1.9 million homeowner assistance actions have taken place through the Making Home Affordable Program, including more than 1.3 million permanent modifications through the Home Affordable Modification Program, while the Federal Housing Administration offered more than 2.1 million loss mitigation and early delinquency interventions through December.

In all, more than 8 million mortgage modification and other forms of mortgage assistance arrangements were completed between April 2009 and the end of December 2013.