Mortgage Delinquency Update: The Weight of Competing Economic Factors

CoreLogic, a property information and analytics company, has released the latest iteration of its Loan Performance Insights Report which found that for the month of April 20222 2.9% of all mortgages were in some stage of delinquency, defined as being more than 30 days past due including foreclosures. 

In April 2022, the U.S. delinquency and transition rates and their year-over-year changes, were as follows: 

• Early-Stage Delinquencies (30 to 59 days past due): 1.2%, up from 1% April 2021. 
• Adverse Delinquency (60 to 89 days past due): 0.3%, unchanged from April 2021. 
• Serious Delinquency (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure): 1.4%, down from 3.3% in April 2021 and a high of 4.3% in August 2020. 
• Foreclosure Inventory Rate (the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process): 0.3%, unchanged from April 2021. 
• Transition Rate (the share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due): 0.7%, up from 0.6% in April 2021. 

The double-digit price gains experienced my most properties over the last year resulted in continually increasing equity gains in the first quarter which helped keep overall mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates near all-time lows in April. While delinquency and foreclosure rates remained stagnant month-over-month, on a yearly basis it trended up slightly. 

According to CoreLogic, the small shift in foreclosure numbers partially reflects lenders ending their forbearance periods for extremely delinquent borrowers rather than the “overall health” of what remains a “relatively solid” housing market. 

“The U.S. foreclosure rate edged up in spring 2022 after hitting a historic low at the end of 2021,” said Molly Boesel, Principal Economist at CoreLogic. “Moratoria and forbearance that helped keep homeowners out of foreclosure are expiring for many borrowers, but ongoing strong employment numbers and large amounts of equity should keep foreclosure rates low moving forward.” 

Click here to view the report in its entirety.