Obama's Foreclosure Plan

On the surface, the latest Treasury department figures are encouraging. 1 in 5 homeowners have received what the department deems “long-lasting relief” as a result of the President’s foreclosure-prevention initiative.

What’s more, that figure has been on the rise in recent months.

But dig deeper, and there are some worrying trends. The number of new homeowners securing trial modifications is near the lowest levels since the program began. And while the share of homeowners who have converted into permanent modifications has been on the rise, it isn’t nearly enough to keep up with the number of newly eligible borrowers.

Translation? The much ballyhooed Home Affordable Modification Program has been and continues to be successful on the margins, but it isn’t going to stop the large number of foreclosures that will come into the market this year.

Something is better than nothing, of course, but so far it isn’t as much as officials and economists has hoped.

We should have a better idea when paperwork is submitted and tallied for permanent modifications by the end of February and into March.