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Hurricane Aftermath Continues to Affect Mortgage Delinquency

House sinking in water, Insurance conceptThe state of mortgage delinquencies was a mixture of good news and bad news as 2017 wrapped up, according to a new report by Black Knight, Inc. [1], a provider of integrated technology, data, and analytics for lenders and servicers. Today Black Knight released their First Look at December 2017’s mortgage performance data, revealing that serious delinquencies increased both month-over-month and year-over-year.

According to Black Knight’s report, another 60,000 mortgages became delinquent by more than 90 days in December 2017, which adds to a total of approximately 143,000 90-day-plus delinquencies that can be attributed to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. That represents 20 percent of the nation’s entire stock of severely delinquent mortgage loans.

Florida has now overtaken Mississippi as the state with the largest share of severely delinquent (more than 90 days past due) mortgages. Hurricane Irma’s after effects could be felt throughout both Florida and Georgia in December, with 102,500 severely delinquent loans in those states directly attributable to Irma. In Texas, 40,200 severely delinquent loans could be traced back to damages from Hurricane Harvey.

After Florida, the five states with the most severely delinquent mortgage loans in December 2017 were Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Alabama.

The overall delinquency rate, tracking loans 30 days or more past due, but not yet in foreclosure, increased 3.47 percent in December month-over-month, reaching its highest level since early 2016. However, Black Knight reports that foreclosure starts decreased to 44,500 in December, the lowest number since the Great Recession. The inventory of loans in active foreclosure is also slowly improving, dropping by 152,000 year-over-year, which amounts to a 32 percent decline. The number of properties that are 90 or more days overdue, but not in active foreclosure, came in at 726,000 in December, up by 44,000 year-over-year.

You can read Black Knight’s full First Look at December 2017 mortgage activity by clicking here.