Tag Archives: Delinquency Rate

Lender Processing Services (LPS) provided a peak into month-end data for mortgage performance in April 2012, and reported after 9 months of declines, mortgage delinquencies increased. The total delinquency rate for loans 30 days or more past due but not in foreclosure was 7.12 percent, a 0.4 percent month-over-month increase. Compared to a year ago, the delinquency rate was down by 10.6 percent.

On a national level, delinquency rates and foreclosure starts decreased on a quarterly and yearly basis in the first quarter of 2012, with foreclosure inventory the exception, which increased slightly compared to the previous quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The delinquency rate was 7.40 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the 2011 fourth quarter rate of 7.58 percent and the year ago quarter's 8.32 percent. Foreclosure inventory, on the other hand, saw a small quarterly increase of 1 basis point after ending at 4.39 percent in the 2012 first quarter.

The Consumer Distress Index, published by CredAbility, found the average U.S. household is under less financial stress these days, most likely due to factors such as added jobs and the mild winter weather this year. Overall, U.S. households scored 69.9 out of 100 points, with a score under 70 indicating a state of financial distress. While still 0.1 points shy of rising above the distress category, the score is an improvement from the previous quarter's 67.6. Also, 69.9 is the highest score since the 2008 third quarter and the 2.3 point increase from the previous quarter is the highest quarterly jump in seven years.

According to a report from Foreclosure-Response.org, the serious delinquency rate, which includes loans 90 or more days past due plus foreclosures, increased for the first time after a downward trend between December 2009 and June 2011. Serious delinquencies rose from 9.2 percent in June 2011 to 9.7 percent in December 2011 for the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas. While the 90-plus delinquencies component of the percentage was flat at 3.8 percent and has remained largely unchanged for the past four quarters, foreclosure rates continue to rise, and now stand at 5.9 percent. In June 2011, the foreclosure rate was 5.5 percent.

After declining during the 2012 first quarter, the national mortgage delinquency rate is at its lowest level since the first quarter of 2009 and finally dropped after two consecutive quarterly increases. TransUnion reported Wednesday that the national delinquency rate, which includes borrowers 60 or more days past due, is 5.78 percent for the first quarter of 2012, a quarterly and yearly drop when the rates were 6.01 percent and 6.19 percent, respectively.

Solvency issues re-emerged for the Federal Housing Administration in a hearing convened Tuesday by the Senate Banking Committee, with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan calling for lower loan-to-value thresholds and more servicer competition to expand refinance opportunities. The hearing quickly turned to servicer competition, which the HUD official said is lacking in part because of strict underwriting guidelines under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, inflating home prices and keeping refinance opportunities out of reach for many homeowners.

Total delinquent first mortgage balances are under $500 billion in March 2012, the lowest since January 2009, according to Equifax's March National Consumer Credit Trends Report and Creditforecast.com, a joint product of Equifax and Moody's Analytics. As of March 2012, the number of outstanding first mortgages was 49.5 million, a nearly 11 percent decrease from the March 2008 peak when it reached more than 55 million. According to the report, the decline was caused by high foreclosures, loan payoffs, and low homebuyer demand.

While delinquencies saw a decline and reached their lowest level since August 2008, foreclosure inventory stayed near historic highs, according to data from the March Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services (LPS). The rate for delinquencies was 7.09 percent in March, down 6.3 percent when compared to the previous month and down 8.8 percent compared to a year ago in March. When broken down by judicial processes, non-judicial states had a significantly lower rate of properties in foreclosure inventory at 2.45 percent, while judicial states were above the national average at 6.51 percent.

Just two months after matching its lowest reading in a year, the Trepp CMBS Delinquency Rate reversed course and is now close to matching the highest reading of all time. At 9.80 percent, the April 2012 rate for 30-day plus delinquencies is just 8 basis points shy of the July 2011 record when it was 9.88 percent, according to Trepp, a provider of information, analytics and technology to the CMBS, commercial real estate, and banking markets. April's rate jumped 12 basis points from March after already increasing 31 basis points from the month before in February.

Year-over-year, the number of completed foreclosures decreased about 19 percent to 69,000 in March 2012 compared to 85,000 in March 2011, according to CoreLogic's National Foreclosure Report for March. Month-over-month, with the number of completed foreclosures in February 2012 at 66,000, foreclosures increased about 4.5 percent in March 2012. In addition to the yearly decrease in completed foreclosures, the number of loans in the foreclosure inventory decreased by nearly 6 percent, or 100,000, in March 2012 compared to the year before.