13 percent of mortgage modifications made permanent

The administration's housing efforts continue to produce a low rate of permanent mortgage modifications, with roughly 13 percent of trial offers becoming permanent.

The administration said in a report on Friday that the program is working faster now and the number of permanent modifications rose by 45 percent between January and February. According to the Treasury Department, 1.3 million homeowners have received trial modifications.

But only 170,000 of those homoeowners have seen a permanent change.

The low rate of permanent modifications has drawn scorn from some lawmakers on Capitol Hill and outside critics who have charged that the program has done little to buoy the housing market.

The highest rates of modifications have occurred in California, Nevada, Illinois, Georgia, Florida and New York.