Housing’s recovery continues to be marked by steady home price gains as well as decreases in the number of foreclosures and distressed borrowers, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Treasury Department’s December edition of the Obama Administration’s housing scorecard.
“As the December housing scorecard indicates, our housing market is continuing to show important signs of recovery—with the FHFA and Case-Shiller housing price indices up 5.6 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, from one year ago,” said HUD Senior Advisor on Housing Finance Michael Berman.
Also noting the Obama Administration’s efforts to assist more than 1.4 million homeowners through the Making Home Affordable Program, the number of distressed borrowers also fell considerably since November’s report.
December totaled nearly 10.8 million underwater borrowers, down 5.2% from November and down 8.6% from December 2011.
As of November, the scorecard notes that over 1.1 million homeowners have received assistance through the Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), saving $544 on mortgage payments each month and an estimated $16.7 billion to date.
These represented slight increases since the scorecard’s November edition, where homeowners saved roughly $542 on mortgage payments, and $16.2 billion to date.
Written by Jason Oliva
