Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac prevented more than 2.5 million foreclosures over the course of the past four years, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said.

When breaking out the four-year total by foreclosure-prevention type, about 1.3 million of the loans saved by GSEs benefited from permanent loan modifications, the FHFA explained.

Those efforts ended up keeping approximately 2.1 million borrowers in their homes.

The GSEs successfully executed 134,000 foreclosure prevention actions in the most recent third quarter, up 4% from the second quarter.

When looking at just the third quarter, the GSEs finalized about 38,000 short sales and deeds-in-lieu, up 4% from 2Q.

Of those borrowers saved in the third quarter, 45% received loan mods and had their monthly payments reduced by more than 30%.

About one-third of loan mods completed in the third quarter included principal forbearances.

The REO inventory continued to fall as property dispositions continued to gain traction, outpacing property acquisitions, the FHFA concluded.

kpanchuk@housingwire.com