	Losses and Costs Associated With HUD’s Acquisition, Management, and Sale of Single-Family Properties

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) single-family mortgage insurance programs are intended to protect lenders from financial losses resulting from defaults on mortgage loans to home buyers. It spent nearly $14 billion to acquire, manage, and sell these properties, and it sold these properties for about $9.2 billion. Breakdown of Costs

For the single-family properties sold during fiscal years 1992 through 1994, HUD incurred by far the largest proportion of its total costs—about 89 percent, or more than $12.4 billion—to acquire the properties. 1.3.) During the same period, HUD sold an average of nearly 66,000 properties each year. 2.5.) Length of Time That Single-Family Properties Remained in HUD’s Inventory

The median time required for HUD to sell an acquired single-family property was about 5 months for the properties sold during fiscal years 1992 through 1994.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) acquisition and disposition of single-family properties.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) HUD spent nearly $14 billion to acquire, manage, and dispose of nearly 200,000 single-family properties it sold during fiscal years 1992 through 1994, and it only received $9.2 billion from the sale of these properties; (2) the median loss per single-family property was around $22,500; (3) HUD acquisition costs represented about 89 percent of its total costs; (4) HUD acquired an average of more than 63,000 single-family properties per year and sold an average of nearly 66,000 such properties during fiscal years 1992 through 1994; and (5) these single-family properties remained in HUD inventory about 5 months before being sold.