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Foreclosure Inventory Down Despite Rise in Starts

Black Knight Financial Services Foreclosures [1]Foreclosure inventory was way down nationwide year-over-year in January  despite a 5.5 percent month-over-month increase in foreclosure starts, according to Black Knight Financial Services [2]' First Look at January Mortgage Data.

Foreclosure starts totaled 94,300 for January, which was the highest number since December 2013. January's total was a 5.5 percent increase from December and a slight increase of 0.2 percent from January 2014. Foreclosure inventory took a huge drop year-over-year in January, falling by 31.4 percent. The total percentage of residential mortgage loans in some state of foreclosure was 1.61 percent, according to Black Knight.

The number of properties nationwide in foreclosure pre-sale inventory in January was 815,000, with the 31.4 percent year-over-year decline accounting for 360,000 properties.

The total delinquency rate, which is the percentage of loans 30 days or more past due but not in foreclosure, was reported at 5.56 percent for January – a decline of 1.4 percent from December and 11.3 percent from the same month a year earlier. The total number of delinquent mortgage loans in the country for January was 2.8 million, a decline of 55,000 from December and 327,000 from January 2014.

The number of properties that were 90 days or more past due but not in foreclosure in January was 1.12 million, down by 20,000 month-over-month and 177,000 year-over-year.

The monthly prepayment rate, which historically is a good indicator of refinance activity, experienced a large month-over-month decline in January (23 percent) but jumped by 19 percent year-over-year.

The average number of days delinquent for a loan in foreclosure was nearly unchanged from December to January (1,010 days to 1,009 days) and down slightly from the all-time high of 1,024 days set in October. January's total was still a year-over-year increase of 66 days (943 days in January 2014).