The number of homes actively in the process of foreclosure fell by nearly 200 thousand in 2015, marking a 22 percent decline, down to about 689 thousand properties, according to Black Knight’s First Look at Mortgage Data for December 2015 released today. The number of residential mortgage loans delinquent but not in foreclosure declined by 15 percent, or 425 thousand over-the-year in December down to about 2 point 4 million.
The total non-current inventory declined in 2015 by about 618 thousand properties, totaling slightly more than three million at the end of the year—the lowest level since June 2007. The number of 90-day delinquent loans declined by about 19 thousand in December, reversing two consecutive months of increases, and the number of foreclosure starts spiked by 17 percent in December up to 78 thousand from November’s post-crisis low but were still down 14 percent over the year.
BankUnited and Bank of New York Mellon saw substantial increases in profits for 2015 despite the respective challenges they faced, according to earnings statements released Thursday. BNY Mellon saw profits rise from 2 point 5 billion dollars in 2014 up to 3 point 1 billion in 2015 despite a residential mortgage-backed securities lawsuit filed by the FDIC in August 2015. BankUnited’s net income for 2015 totaled 251 million dollars, up from 204 million in 2014, despite experiencing a lack of scale that forced the bank to discontinue retail mortgage originations.