Delinquencies, Foreclosures See Downward Trend in January: LPS

""Lender Processing Services, Inc."":http://www.lpsvcs.com/Pages/default.aspx (LPS) offered an early look at mortgage performance in January 2013 and reported a downward trend for mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures.

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At the end of January, the mortgage delinquency rate, which includes loans 30 days or more past due, stood at 7.03 percent, representing a 2.03 percent decline from December 2012 and an 8.35 percent decrease from January 2012, according to LPS.

Meanwhile, the national foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate averaged 3.41 percent, falling 0.82 percent month-over-month while making a steep 19.39 percent drop year-over-year.

LPS' report is based on information from its loan-level database, which represents approximately 70 percent of the overall market.

LPS also reported the number of properties that are 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure, numbered 3.5 million. Of that total, 1.5 million were 90 days or more past due.

The number of properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory totaled 1.7 million, bringing the number of past due properties, including foreclosures, to 5.2 million.

The states with highest percentage of non-current loans were Florida, Missisippi, New Jersey, Nevada, and New York. States with the lowest percentage of past due loans was Montana, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota.