Whose house is being saved by Obama?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- More than half a million Americans have received permanent mortgage modifications from the Obama administration's flagship foreclosure prevention program, the Home Affordable Modification Program.

So who are these homeowners?

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To begin with, the reason they are falling behind on their mortgages isn't because their loans are unaffordable, according to a report released Monday by the Treasury Department.

Instead, defaults are stemming from the weak economy and unemployment: In December, 60% of the borrowers who received permanent HAMP mods were facing a loss of income. Just 11% were the result of unaffordable mortgages.

L.A. and New York City have the largest concentrations of these beneficiaries, and their ethnicity roughly reflects the nation as a whole: 33% of borrowers who received permanent modifications were white, while 12% were African American, 18% are Hispanic and 3% are Asian. (The numbers don't add up to 100% because many people did not report ethnicity.)

Median household income for them was just $46,000, well short of affluent. Their credit scores averaged about 570 at the time of modification, which would, under today's lending conditions, prevent them from obtaining loans.

Their mortgage balances -- after modification -- averaged $232,000. That is about five times median household income, about double what they'd usually be allowed to borrow on income of $46,000.

The help these borrowers receive is substantial, with the typical HAMP modification slashing about 40% off mortgage payments. About 18% of HAMP borrowers were able to reduce their payments by $1,000 a month or more.

Still, receiving a permanent HAMP mod does not guarantee that the borrowers will keep their homes. Of those who received a modification during the third quarter of 2009, more than 46% have already fallen at least two payments behind.

Homeowners with payment reductions of more than 30% were far less likely to become delinquent on their permanent modifications, compared with those receiving a payment reduction of 20% or less.

After 12 months, nearly 60% of borrowers whose loan payments went down less than 20% were at least two payments behind. Only 28% of those borrowers with payments reductions of 30% or more had fallen two payments behind or more.