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Data released by ""Lender Processing Services"":http://www.lpsvcs.com (LPS) Thursday indicates foreclosure and delinquency numbers are on the rise again.
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The ""company's report"":http://www.lpsvcs.com/LPSCorporateInformation/ResourceCenter/PressResources/MortgageMonitor/201106MortgageMonitor/LPS_Mortgage_Monitor_June_2011.pdf shows that foreclosures were initiated on 217,486 loans in June, up more than 10 percent from May.
Interestingly enough, the company says most foreclosure starts are occurring on loans that are less than six months delinquent.
LPS also found that foreclosure timelines are continuing to lengthen, with the average loan in foreclosure having been delinquent for a record 587 days.
More than 40 percent of 90-plus day delinquencies have not made a payment in more than a year, according to LPS. For loans in foreclosure, 35 percent have been delinquent for more than two years.
LPS' latest market assessment shows that as of the end of June, 4.1 million loans were either 90-plus days delinquent or in foreclosure. That's nearly 13 percent more than in June 2010.
Looking at the differences between judicial and non-judicial foreclosure states, LPS data shows that the foreclosure pipeline ratio - that is, the number of loans either 90-plus days delinquent or in foreclosure divided by the six-month average of foreclosure sales - is more than three times as high for judicial foreclosure states.
[COLUMN_BREAK]Additionally, the company says the slowdown associated with foreclosure moratoria has been almost exclusively felt in judicial states.
The national delinquency rate of loans one or more payments past due but not yet referred to a foreclosure attorney also rose. It hit 8.15 percent of all outstanding mortgages in June, a 2.4 percent increase over May.
LPS says the inflow of new problem loans is still at least 50 percent higher than pre-crisis levels.
In its study, LPS calculates the percentage of non-current loans by state â€" a stat that combines both foreclosures and delinquencies as a ratio of active loans. States with the highest share of non-current loans in June included: Florida, Nevada, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Illinois.
As a supplement to this month’s report, LPS also examined historical data to estimate the potential impact of the proposed Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) provision of the Dodd-Frank Act.
The data shows that, since 2005, nearly half of all loans originated in the United States would likely have been ineligible for QRM status, which as the proposal stands now would require a 20 percent downpayment to bring the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio to 80 percent for new originations, and a 70-75 percent LTV for mortgage refinances.
At the same time, LPS found that the potential impact of the expiration of the high-cost conforming loan limit for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be minimal, accounting for only one percent of originations over the last three years.
The maximum agency loan limit is set to revert back to $625,500 on October 1, from the $729,750 max put in place for high-cost areas in February 2008 to support the declining housing market. Lawmakers from both congressional chambers, however, are pushing legislation through that would extend the higher limit.
