An increase in the number of monthly proprietary loan modifications completed more than offset a reduction in the number of government-supported modifications.
Residential loan servicers completed 39,563 loan modifications during August. Activity included proprietary modifications and transactions completed through the Home Affordable Modification program.
The monthly level of completed loan modifications reached its highest level since April of this year, when 41,648 mortgages were modified.
HOPE NOW, which delivered the data, said that during the previous month, 35,402 home loans were modified.
But modification activity slid from the same month last year, when 67,725 loans were modified.
The most-recent month included 29,915 proprietary modifications.
Proprietary volume climbed from 25,225 a month earlier but plunged from 48,206 a year earlier.
HAMP volume, however, declined to 9,648 from 10,177 in July. The drop was far more severe compared to August 2013, when servicers completed 19,069 HAMP modifications.
Since December 2009, when HAMP tracking began, 1,407,146 permanent modifications have been completed through the program.
