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LPS Puts Average Delinquency+Foreclosure Timeline at 599 Days

The average mortgage loan in foreclosure has been delinquent for 599 days, according to ""Lender Processing Services"":http://www.lpsvcs.com (LPS). That's a record for the company's regular monthly study on mortgage performance trends.
[IMAGE] At the end of July, LPS counted 2.2 million loans in foreclosure and nearly 1.9 million that were over 90 days past due but had not yet started the foreclosure process.

Of the loans in this 90-plus day delinquency bucket, some 800,000 have not made a payment in more than a year.

LPS says cures on late-stage delinquencies, typically via modification, are continuing to decline. An increase in “foreclosure removals” is also having an adverse affect on seriously delinquent rates, according to LPS.

""The company’s study"":http://www.lpsvcs.com/LPSCorporateInformation/ResourceCenter/PressResources/MortgageMonitor/201107MortgageMonitor/LPSMortgage%20Monitor072011.pdf shows that 75,000 loans were transitioned from foreclosure to 90-plus day delinquency status last month, with nearly half coming from the GSEs.

LPS says loans deteriorating over 90 days outnumber foreclosure starts 2-to-1. During the month of July, foreclosure was initiated on 207,223 loans.

Of these, 38 percent were repeat foreclosures. First-time foreclosure starts have dropped close to their lowest level in three years.

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According to LPS, foreclosures have been initiated at the fastest pace for GSE loans. As a result, the GSEs’ share of 90-plus day delinquencies has dropped considerably since January of 2010.

Repeat foreclosures are at elevated numbers, as are repeat delinquencies. Of the 1.8 million loans in the 30-day delinquency bucket at the end of July, only one-quarter were first-time delinquencies, according to LPS.

The company says foreclosure sales remain constricted, with foreclosure starts outnumbering sales by a factor of almost 3-to-1. The slowdown is most pronounced in judicial foreclosure states, which are still feeling the impact of recent moratoriums.

LPS found that judicial states maintain a foreclosure and seriously delinquent pipeline that is more than three times as long as non-judicial states.

The company says on average, at the current rate of foreclosure sales, judicial foreclosure states would require 111 months to work through inventories of loans that are 90 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure as compared to non-judicial states, which would be able to clear their inventories in approximately 32 months.

At the state level, Florida tops the list with the highest percentage of non-current loans, but most of those are tied up in the judicial system. LPS says Florida is the only state with fewer delinquent loans than foreclosures.

The smallest percentage of non-current mortgages can be found in the Dakotas.

On the national stage, LPS’ analysis shows that 12.45 percent of outstanding mortgages are not current. The company says delinquencies remain two times and foreclosures eight times their pre-crisis levels.