Foreclosure and Mortgage Delinquency Rates Stabilizing

Dennis Norman

A report published by Lender Processing Services (LPS) analyzing homeowner’s performance on their mortgages as of June 2010 shows some encouraging news; there are signs that the foreclosure and mortgage delinquency rates are stabilizing, albeit at very elevated levels. Continue reading “Foreclosure and Mortgage Delinquency Rates Stabilizing

Fewer Homeowners Falling Delinquent; More Delinquent Borrowers Bringing Payments Current

Dennis Norman

A report published by Lender Processing Services (LPS) analyzing homeowner’s performance on their mortgages as of March 2010 shows that, while foreclosure and mortgage delinquency rates are still near record levels, the pace may be slowing with fewer new loans becoming delinquent and an increase in the number of people bringing their loans current.

Fewer Borrowers Are Going From Current To Delinquent –

The dark blue line on the chart below represents the number of “new” delinquencies for each period, and as you can see, the number dropped sharply in March for people that moved from current to 30 days late. While not as big of drop, the number of borrowers going from 30 to 60 days late and 60 to 90 days late dropped as well.

lps-new-delinquencies

Source: Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS)

Fewer Borrowers Are Becoming Seriously Delinquent –

 

As the chart below shows, the number of borrowers that were current on their home loans as of January 1st but then were 60 or more days delinquent as of the end of March is lower this year than last year for all types of home loans, with the exception of FHA loans which are about the same as last year.

 

lps-mortgage-delinquency2

Source: Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS)

More Delinquent Borrowers Are Becoming Current –

The chart below shows that the number of people that were delinquent on their house payments but became current again in March increased significantly over the month before. The trend thus far this year has been good.

 

lps-curing-to-current

Source: Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS)

The Light At the End of the Tunnel –

If the trends above continue then I would expect in a few months we will start seeing a decline in the foreclosure rate which would be a huge step in the right direction with regard to stabilizing the housing market. Foreclosures disrupt the housing market by adding to inventory of homes for sale and bringing prices down, making it harder for an already challenged market to recover. Once the foreclosure rates start dropping, and continue trending downward we will hopefully be on our way to better times.

 

Delinquent Home Mortgages 21.3 Percent Higher Than Last Year; Foreclosure Rates at Record High

Dennis Norman

A report published by Lender Processing Services (LPS) analyzing homeowner’s performance on their mortgages as of February 2010 has some data that is encouraging but that data is overshadowed by data that shows the problems int he U.S. housing market are far from over.

Let’s start with the good news…

Delinquencies on home mortgages declined in February by 1.45 percent from January and the percentage of loans that were 90 days late or more in February were at the lowest rate in 17 months. The decline in home loans that were 90+ days delinquent from December 2009 to February 2010 was the largest decline since the same period in 2005 and 2006.

lps-mortgage-monitor-logoNow for the sobering bad news…

Mortgaage delinquencies in February were up 21.3 percent from a year ago and foreclosure inventories continue to climb to record highs. February’s foreclosure rate of 3.31 percent is an increase of 0.06 percent from January and a 51.1 percent increase from a year ago. In addition, the average days delinquent on loans 90+ days delinquent increased to 256 days, an increase of 36 percent from a year ago when the average delinquency was 188 days.

  • Total U.S. loan delinquency rate for February was 10.2 percent.
  • Approximately 1.145 million loans that were current at the beginning of January were at least 30 days delinquent as of the end of February
  • 3.8 percent of loans that were current in December 2009 in Nevada and Mississippi were delinquent as of the end of February 2010
  • 4.56 percent of loans moved to “worse” status in February vs. 2.22 percent that improved
  • For every 1 loan that improved in February in terms of delinquency, 2.1 loans deteriorated.
  • The percentage of loans that have missed 12 payments and are not in foreclosure has almost doubled in the past year.

The national average for home loans that are not current as of February is 13.5 percent. The state with the highest percentage of home loans that are not current is Florida with almost a fourth of the home loans not current (23.8 percent) followed by Nevada at 23.3 percent, Mississippi at 17.5 percent and Arizona at 16.3 percent.

lps-mortgage-delinquency

Information provided by LPS Applied Analytics