More foreclosures coming in 2010

The number of long-term adjustments completed under the president’s foreclosure prevention plan rose to 66,465 at the end of December, or 7.4% of all trial modifications started, up from 31,382 a month earlier.  Another 46,056 modifications are pending borrowers’ final signatures, according to Treasury statistics released Friday. Another 48,924 were denied permanent modifications, mainly because they did not make their trial payments on time, did not hand in the needed paperwork or did not meet the program’s criteria.  Meanwhile, the number of delinquent homeowners in trial modifications rose to 787,231, up from 697,026 a month earlier. Housing experts remain concerned that the rate of foreclosures still outpaces the help homeowners are receiving under the program. A record three million homeowners received at least one foreclosure filing in 2009, according to a RealtyTrac report released last Thursday.  A lot of borrowers are too far underwater or don’t have enough income to qualify for a permanent modification, said Celia Chen, senior director at Economy.com. Others will not be able to provide all the documentation needed.  Administration officials said they continue to review the program to make sure it is helping those in need, Chen said she doesn’t think there’s anything the government can do to keep these borrowers in their homes. “As more of these loans fail to make it to permanent modifications, a lot will go back on the market as foreclosures and that will depress home prices,” said Chen, who expects home prices to fall another 10% by the third quarter of this year.