DS News - Digital Archives

IN THE NEWS Vermont rank: 13 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate october 2012 1.73% Unemployment Rate 3.79% 5.5% year ago 1.61% 3.49% 5.4% percent point change 7.9% 8.7% 1.9% Top County Franklin CounTy 90+ Day Delinquency Rate october 2012 2.63% Foreclosure Rate 5.76% year ago 2.72% 5.23% percent point change -3.5% 10.2% Top Core-Based Statistical area ruTland, VT 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate october 2012 2.17% 5.35% year ago 2.14% 4.52% percent point change 1.1% 18.4% note: The 90+ Day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are 90plus days delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the October 2012 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary October 2012 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of Lender Processing Services. Virginia rank: 43 90+ Day Delinquency Rate 2.26% Foreclosure Rate october 2012 Unemployment Rate 1.42% 5.7% year ago 2.24% 1.89% 6.2% percent point change 0.5% -24.7% -8.1% Top County Cumberland CounTy 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate october 2012 3.07% 4.05% year ago 3.64% 1.46% percent point change -15.8% 176.9% Top Core-based Statistical area marTinSVille, Va 90+ Day Delinquency Rate october 2012 3.05% Foreclosure Rate 2.57% year ago 3.28% 2.59% percent point change -7.2% note: -0.7% The 90+ Day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are 90plus days delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the October 2012 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary October 2012 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of Lender Processing Services. 156 Freddie Mac's Serious Delinquency Rate Slips to Three-Year Low Freddie Mac's single-family seriously delinquent rate decreased from 3.37 percent in September 2012 to 3.31 percent in October 2012—the lowest it's been since August 2009. The McLean, Virginia-based GSE's multifamily delinquency rate also fell, from 0.27 percent in September 2012 to 0.24 percent for the month of October 2012. At the same time, Freddie Mac's total mortgage portfolio continued to shrink; however, increased purchase and issuance volume pushed the company closer to positive growth for the first time in more than a year and a half. According to the GSE's monthly volume summary, its mortgage portfolio contracted at an annualized rate of 0.8 percent in October 2012, a significant leap from negative 9.4 percent in September 2012. It's also a step up from October 2011, when the company reported negative 5.2 percent growth in its total portfolio. Year-todate, Freddie Mac's portfolio has shrunk at an average annualized pace of 6.0 percent. The portfolio was at approximately $1.97 trillion at the end of the month. The last time the portfolio posted positive growth was in February 2011, when it grew at an annualized rate of 0.1 percent. Freddie Mac reported a little more than $50 billion in purchases and issuances during the month, up significantly from $39 billion in September and $33 billion a year ago. The last time monthly volume was at such a high level was in June 2009 ($63.2 billion). The company reports $377.6 billion in volume from the beginning of 2012 through the end of October. According to the GSE, single-family refinance loan purchase and guarantee volume reached $37.2 billion during the month, making up 74 percent of its total secondary volume. Freddie Mac's mortgage-related securities portfolio grew slightly for the first time in four months. The company issued $45.2 billion in securities, growing its portfolio at an annualized rate of 0.3 percent. The total number of loan modifications was 6,988 in October 2012, bringing the year's total to 56,671. Fitch Gives Freddie Mac CMBS Special Servicer Rating Fitch Ratings recognized the strength of Freddie Mac's multifamily business, giving the McLean, Virginia-based GSE an initial commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) special servicer rating of CSS2. Fitch said the rating "reflects the ability of the multifamily division of Freddie Mac to work out commercial mortgage loans" backed by apartment buildings with five or more units and acquired from its network of sellers and servicers. As of the end of September, Freddie Mac was a special servicer for more than 8,800 loans totaling $94.4 billion in its multifamily portfolio. The company was also involved in the workout of more than 100 loans and several REO assets totaling approximately $1.5 billion. Through loan modifications, foreclosures, and liquidations, Fitch noted Freddie Mac resolved more than $1.0 billion of loan defaults in 2011, losing less than other CMBS special servicers on average. "Freddie Mac's commercial servicer special servicer ratings reflects Fitch's assessment of Freddie Mac's management team, asset management capabilities, technology, financial strength, and knowledge of the multifamily lending environment combined with the support of its seller/servicer network," Fitch said in a statement. Michael Lipson, SVP of multifamily asset management and operations for Freddie Mac, said the rating is a "critical part of maintaining credibility in the market." "It demonstrates the financial, operational, and staff strength as well as our credit capabilities. We have a good track record of working with all types of sizes of loans to service nonperforming loans," Lipson said. Freddie Mac Paints Realistic Picture of a 'Healthy' Market The housing market is slowly but surely getting back up to speed, but don't expect it to recover to peak levels, Freddie Mac said in its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook released in mid-November. In the outlook, Freddie Mac's economics team takes into account recent trends, housing indicators, and shifting demographic patterns to put together a picture of what

• Cover