""TransUnion"":http://newsroom.transunion.com/easyir/customrel.do?easyirid=DC2167C025A9EA04&version=live&prid=786658&releasejsp=custom_144 recorded the largest percentage drop in delinquencies since the end of the recession two years ago.
[IMAGE]According to TransUnion, mortgage delinquencies improved 5.98 percent during the second quarter.
Information and risk management company, TransUnion, compiles data from 27 million consumers randomly sampled each quarter.
The rate of homeowners 60 or more days delinquent declined to 5.82 percent in the second quarter of 2011.
TransUnion predicts delinquencies will continue to decline throughout the year.
""While relatively low home prices and high unemployment continue to exert upward pressure on delinquency rates, they are more than offset by the impact of more conservative lending policies reflecting consumers with higher credit scores,"" said Tim Martin, group vice president of the U.S. Housing Market in TransUnion's financial services business unit.
""Not only are these consumers less likely to default if house prices continue to edge downward throughout the year, but their willingness to repay their debt obligations in the face of high unemployment rates is greater,"" Martin said.
""It is because of these dynamics that lenders today take a much closer look at the borrower's income history and overall debt situation than before the recession began in 2007,"" he added.
Excluding Vermont, all states and the District of Columbia registered declines in delinquencies during the second quarter of 2011. Vermont posted an increase.
States with the highest delinquency rate in the second quarter of 2011 were Florida, Nevada, California, and Arizona.
States with the lowst delinquency rate for the quarter were North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Alaska.
At the same time, delinquencies decreased in 79 percent of metropolitan statistical areas (MSA), an increase from the previous quarter when 69 percent of MSAs showed decreases in delinquencies.
The rate is a significant increase from one year ago when delinquencies decreased in 44 percent of MSAs.
""Mortgage delinquencies have shown six straight quarters of improvement and the pace of the improvement seems to be picking up speed. This is encouraging news,"" Martin said.
""However, at their current level, nearly three times the pre-recession 'norm,' and the current pace of improvement, we may not see 'normal' delinquency rates until the end of 2015,"" Martin concluded.