foreclosures

Like a few other Obama policies, the Home Affordable Modification Program has been criticized for falling short of its goals. When it was passed last year, the so-called HAMP was intended to reduce monthly mortgage payments for cash-strapped homeowners so that they could afford to keep their homes.  But critics have charged that it is only delaying the inevitable, with many homeowners likely to be in default again within a couple of years.

But Treasury Assistant Secretary Michael Barr points out that the program has had “quite a strong stabilizing influence” on the housing market by reducing the number of foreclosures currently on the market and preventing more downward pressure on prices.  In addition to giving troubled homeowners a reprieve, HAMP also has created a backlog of cases as banks carefully screen borrowers to see if they qualify for a modification.

The result is fewer foreclosed homes on the market. Home foreclosure postings in Dallas County, excluding repeat filings, dropped 12 percent last year. Nationally, foreclosures are also down.  Proponents are hopeful that the housing market will be better able to handle foreclosures in a year or two when both the job market and the economy have recovered. And that would make HAMP a qualified success.

In yet another sign that the local housing market is strengthening in 2010, foreclosure postings are way down for the February 2^nd auction of homes in the area’s four largest counties. Postings plummeted 20 percent from January in Dallas, Collin, Denton and Tarrant counties, and were down 4 percent from one year ago in Dallas, according to a report released by Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service.

 ”This decline is welcomed news,” George Roddy Sr., president of the real estate research firm said in a statement.  ”While this decline may be what we have been waiting to see, a change for just one month does not establish a new trend. We will just have to wait to see what happens next month.”

February postings in Dallas County fell 19 percent from the January auction, while Collin County posting fell 28 percent, and Denton County postings fell 25 percent. Those three counites were also down compared with a year ago, and all four saw lower filings than two years ago.