Agencies extend freeze on foreclosures and evictions to end of year

WASHINGTON — The Federal Housing Finance Agency is extending its moratorium on foreclosures for single-family loans and evictions for real-estate-owned properties until the end of the year.

Previously, the moratorium for properties backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was set to expire Aug. 31. It is the third time the agency has prolonged the moratorium, which was intended to help homeowners and renters affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Housing Administration also announced Thursday that it is extending its foreclosure and eviction moratorium until the end of the year.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act also provided for an eviction moratorium on single-family, non-REO properties, but that moratorium expired July 24.

“To help keep borrowers in their homes during the pandemic, FHFA is extending the [government-sponsored] enterprises’ foreclosure and eviction moratorium through the end of 2020,” FHFA Director Mark Calabria said in a press release. “This protects more than 28 million homeowners with an enterprise-backed mortgage.”

The CARES Act, which Congress passed in March, allowed for a 60-day moratorium on foreclosures and evictions on properties financed through federally backed mortgages. But the FHFA and the FHA also imposed their own moratoriums independent of the CARES Act.

The FHFA said it had estimated that Fannie and Freddie would take losses of $1.1 billion to $1.7 billion as a result of the foreclosure and eviction moratorium. The government-sponsored enterprises are imposing an “adverse market fee” on refinances starting Dec. 1 in an attempt to recoup projected losses from its coronavirus-related actions.

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FHFA Foreclosures Coronavirus Fannie Mae Freddie Mac Mark Calabria GSEs CARES Act FHA
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