Repeat foreclosures in New York have reached an all-time high (HAMP TIME-OUT MOSTLY PROTECTED BANKS)

In a report prepared exclusively for The Post, Attom Data Solutions found that in New York City last year, roughly 4,900 -- or more than half of all new foreclosures filed -- were repeats, up from just 5 percent in 2008.

Statewide, 73 percent of the 49,200 new foreclosure cases -- or roughly 35,916 foreclosures -- over the past 12 months were repeats, up from 20 percent in 2007, according to Black Knight, which collects data reported by servicers.

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"The same owners in the same properties ... are stuck in distress that never seems to resolve," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at Attom, adding, "It's more acute in New York than in other markets."

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Analyzing 700,000 loans with a balance of $135 billion at modification, Fitch found a rapid rise in re-defaults on loans modified since 2014, while the cumulative default rate of loans modified in 2015 is the highest of any modification vintage since 2010.

Failed modifications are debt traps for homeowners.

The Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP) put in place by former President Obama in 2009, was supposed to help troubled homeowners remain in their house while working out a new loan with their lenders.

However, in practice, it was a boom for servicers, who placed people in the program and collected fees, while providing little debt relief.

"HAMP was a [government] forbearance program that left people at the edge of the cliff," said Damon Silvers, former deputy chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Principal reductions on the debt could help stem the rising tide of re-defaults.

But Obama chose to structure the modification programs to protect bank balance sheets rather than force lenders to write down bad loans.