MN Housing Partnership - 2x4 Report

The Minnesota Housing Partnership has recently released its updated report (known as the "2 x 4 Report") that studies two indicators for each of four key housing areas:

• the home ownership market,
• the rental market,
• homelessness, and
• the housing industry.

The report is a great resource for housing information, and is designed to provide a concise, easy-to-digest, graphic overview of the state of housing in the state of Minnesota.

The complete report is available here.

Focusing on the "Owners' Market" segment of their report, it shows that just over 7% of primary (first lien) mortgages were delinquent in the second quarter of 2009 - up from about 6% in the fourth quarter of 2008.

When taken in combination with the increase in pre-foreclosure notices that we highlighted in our post on Tuesday (Pre-Foreclosure Notices, September 2009) we repeat can our assessment from Tuesday: MN still has a LONG way to go before we reach the end of the foreclosure crisis.

Mid Year Foreclosure Counseling Numbers

In 2008, the Minnesota Home Ownership Center's network of foreclosure prevention specialists assisted a record number of struggling Minnesota Homeowners. As reported previously, the network assisted over 11,000 families.

HOWEVER, In 2009, if current numbers hold through the end of the year, the network should assist over 15,000 homeowners - - A STAGGERING 27% increase over 2008!

Through May 31, 2009, specialists had counseled 7,537 families!

Even with the increased difficulties facing homeowners due to the current economic climate, and the increased number of homeowners seeking assistance, the network of specialists are still doing AMAZING things for their clients. Of the cases that have been 'resolved' (how our data tracking software labels homeowners where the outcome of their situation is known or consumer has decided to no longer work with the counselor)... the results are nothing short of spectacular:

Percent of resolved cases where foreclosure was averted: 63.66%

Percent of resolved cases where foreclosure was not averted: 22.50%

Percent of resolved cases where outcome is unknown: 13.84%

Of those cases where foreclosure was averted... How was the homeowner able to avoid foreclosure? Through May 31:

By bringing payments current .......... 40%
By modifying the loan .......... 25%
By obtaining a Forbearance Agreement .......... 17%
By Short sale .......... 6%
By filing Bankruptcy.......... 3%
By other means .......... 8%

There are a few caveats with the number presented here... while the actual number of clients counseled year-to-date is a definitive number (7,537) the number of resolved cases will change over time, which will affect (probably downward) the percentage of foreclosures averted.

All data in this post should be considered 'draft information' until our year-end report that should be available in the first quarter of 2010.

Congratulations to our statewide network of counselors. They continue to work incredibly hard on behalf of Minnesota homeowners!

151 Radio Stations!

The radio actuality (similar to an audio/radio format press release) that the MN Home Ownership Center produced about the release of its 2008 Foreclosure Prevention Counseling Program Report was picked up by 151 radio stations throughout the state!

That is, without a doubt, a record for the Center!

If anyone was able to record any audio from any of the newscasts throughout the state... we'd love to hear them! You can send them to Ed Nelson here at the Center: ed@hocmn.org

You can listen to the Radio Actuality, HERE.

The entire 2008 report - and lots of other supplemental information - is available on the Center's website, HERE.

Star Tribune Highlights 2008 Foreclosure Report

In addition to the weekend Editorial we blogged about here... Today's Star Tribune highlights information from the Center's 2008 Foreclosure Counsling Program Report - on the front page of the business section!

The focus of the Strib article - and one of the findings of the Report, is the fact that the foreclosure crisis has moved beyond the first wave (very low-moderate income buyers, sub-prime and even predatory loan products, overbought homes) to the next wave of prime mortgage holders, suburban homeowners and others.

We'll be adding additional posts about the Report throughout the coming days - highlighting additional findings of the report - there is a LOT of great information about the face of foreclosure in Minnesota.

You can read the Star Tribune article here.

You can access the report, and other supplemental documents, here.