90% of agents down on HAMP

A mere 10 percent of real estate agents think the Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is reducing foreclosures in their market, according to a survey released Wednesday by real estate media and marketing provider Homes and Land.

The company's Market Pulse Survey Report asked more than 100,000 real estate agents nationwide to participate in a 10-question survey to gauge the state of housing in local markets. Nearly 5,800 agents responded; 51 percent had been a Realtor for more than 10 years. The company conducted the survey in February.

A quarter of participants were not sure if the mortgage modification program had reduced foreclosures in their market, while a whopping 65 percent said it had not. The government designed the $75 billion program to help up to 4 million at-risk homeowners obtain mortgage loan modifications.

Almost half (44 percent) of agents said less than 10 percent of clients had purchased a home in the last three months using the federal homebuyer tax credit.

More than half (58 percent) of respondents said consumer interest in buying a home in their area had increased in the past three months. Interest in states with high foreclosure rates was above average -- 71 percent in Arizona, 64 percent in California and 67 percent in Florida -- and may be driven by those high rates of distressed homes, the company said in its survey announcement.

In Arizona, 38 percent of respondents said more than half of total sales in the past year were distressed homes. In Michigan, it was 36 percent of respondents; in California, it was 35 percent; and in Nevada, it was 33 percent.

"Foreclosures and short sales still appear to be driving home sales in several states," said Eric Adair, business development analyst for Homes & Land. 

"Unfortunately, the data on the program to date and the responses from our survey show that HAMP has done little to help. Clearly respondents to our survey don't believe this program is helping to reduce foreclosures."

According to a recent survey by real estate marketing and technology provider Point2 Technologies, real estate broker and agent confidence nationwide fell 2.26 percent in February to 5.63 on a scale of one ("bad") to 10 ("good") with confidence in the future taking the biggest hit (see story).

Builder confidence, meanwhile, increased by two points in February to 17, but that figure remains far below a score above 50 that would indicate that more builders believe sales conditions are good than poor, according to the National Association of Home Builders (see story).

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index also saw a deep decline last month.

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