What’s Causing an Uptick in Foreclosure Starts?

As mortgages that went delinquent because of last year’s catastrophic hurricanes continued to cure, the U.S. delinquency rate plummeted to its lowest point since March 2006, according to Black Knight’s First Look for July, which parses monthly mortgage performance data for foreclosures and delinquencies.

Simultaneous to that, foreclosure starts ticked up 11 percent over June’s dramatic 17-year low to hit 48,300—the highest amount reached in three months, Black Knight noted in its report. Although starts increased across the nation, foreclosure referrals in the hurricane-affected zones in Texas galloped by a higher-than-average 19 percent.

The upswing in starts coupled with fewer foreclosure completions led to the number of loans in active foreclosure climbing in July—albeit, the second monthly rise in three years, the report indicated. That said, the delinquency decrease was robust enough to outweigh the rise in active foreclosures, bringing total noncurrent inventory (30-plus days past due or in foreclosure) down to a more-than-12-year low, it noted.

The top five states ranked by non-current percentages in July were Mississippi at 9.61 percent; Louisiana (7.78 percent); Alabama (6.62 percent); West Virginia (6.36 percent); and Indiana (5.85 percent).

As for the bottom five states in order of non-current percentages, Washington led the list with 2.31 percent of its total active loans in foreclosure or delinquency followed by North Dakota (2.29 percent);  Idaho (2.25 percent); Oregon (2.13 percent); and Colorado (1.91 percent).

The top five States by 90-plus days delinquent percentages were led by Mississippi where 2.89 percent of loans were found delinquent followed by Louisiana (2.09 percent); Alabama (1.91 percent); Florida (1.79 percent); and Arkansas (1.64 percent).

According to the report, the top five states classified by six-month improvement in non-current percentage were Florida (37.2 percent); Texas (23.77 percent); Louisiana (16.68 percent); Rhode Island (15.3 percent); and Nevada (14.26 percent).

The top five states in terms of six-month deterioration in a non-current position were led by North Dakota (3.22 percent); Colorado (7.15 percent); Washington (7.45 percent); Delaware (8.14 percent); and Alaska (8.51 percent).