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50 GSEs COMPLETE 3.7M FORECLOSURE PREVENTION ACTIONS e Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its third quarter Foreclosure Prevention Report that showed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 46,390 foreclosure prevention actions in the third quarter of 2016, bringing the total number of foreclosure prevention actions to more than 3.7 million since the start of the conservatorships in September 2008. e report also showed that the serious delinquency rates of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans declined to their lowest levels since 2008. is compared with 4.4 percent for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, 2.3 percent for Veterans Affairs (VA) loans, and 3.0 percent for all loans (Industry average). Of these actions, 3,127,237 have helped troubled homeowners stay in their homes, including 1,993,692 permanent loan modifications. Broken down further, home retention actions totaled 40,223, with the repayment plans totaling 7,515 and forbearance plans numbering 1,407. Charge-offs-in-lieu totaled 208. On the non-foreclosure-home forfeiture actions side, the total was 6,167, with short sales coming out to 4,373 and deeds-in-lieu totaling 1,794. Modifications with extend-term only accounted for 44 percent of all loan modifications in the first quarter due to improved house prices and a declining HAMP eligible population. As of September 30, 2016, approximately 21 percent of loans modified in the third quarter of 2016 had missed two or more payments, one year after modification. A total of 1,080,472 troubled homeowners have been offered a HAMP trial modification since the program started in April 2009, and 655,249 of these homeowners have been granted permanent modifications through HAMP. A total of 2,500 homeowners were in a HAMP trial modification period at the end of the third quarter, but this number is a reflection of 1,080,472 modifications started as of Q2 minus the number of trials disqualified (78,779) and the number of trials cancelled (343,944). is number also reflects the subtraction of those trials turned into permanent modifications that numbered 655,249. Non-HAMP modifications accounted for 93 percent of all permanent loan modifications in the third quarter. A total of 28,877 homeowners received permanent loan modifications through the enterprises' proprietary modification programs in the second quarter, bringing the total number of non-HAMP permanent modifications to 1,241,085 since April 2009. FORECLOSURE INVESTORS TAKE A STEP BACK Investors who initially acquired foreclosed homes in bulk following the housing crisis, have now begun to cash out or slow the rate of their acquisitions, according to a report from Realtor.com. Examining the 50 largest metros in the United States, Realtor.com investigated sales transaction data in order to better explain the national decline in investor activity. "e metros can be grouped by several trends that characterize where investment activity stands in the region," the report stated. "Of the top 50 metros, approximately 70 percent of them have seen the share of company purchases peak in 2012-2014 and decline since. is is the most expected pattern and coincides with the gradual increase in prices and decline in inventory which reduced choice investment opportunities." Despite this national trend of decline, Realtor.com reported that some metros deferred from the national trends, actually showing an uptick in investor activity. "After a post-recession rise, the company share of purchases in some metros such as Baltimore, New York, Rochester, Buffalo, Dallas, Houston, and Indianapolis either never decreased or continued to rise," the report said. "However, it should be noted that the company share of purchases in Buffalo, Rochester, Indianapolis, Houston and Dallas is relatively small, only 5 to 6 percent in 2016." Taking a look at the ratio of foreclosure sales in Baltimore, Realtor.com found that there was an increase from a post-recession low of 9.7 percent in 2012, to 18.1 percent in 2015. is trend could be attractive to those investors looking for deals on properties they can lease out at market rents or hang on to in the hopes that price growth in the area will begin to reflect national trends, according to the report. Further the report found that, in New York and New Jersey, the ratio of foreclosure sales to total sales has grown starting in 2013. New Jersey's share increased from a post- recession low of 4.0 percent in 2013 to 11.0 percent in 2016, and New York's share of all purchases grew from 3.7 percent in 2013 to 7.3 percent in 2016.