Hurricanes Harvey and Irma significantly boosted the U.S. mortgage delinquency rate in September, resulting in the first annual rise in delinquencies since July 2010, Black Knight says in its First Look report.
The delinquency rate as of the end of September stood at 4.40%, an increase of 11.85% compared with August and an increase of 2.96% compared with September 2016.
About 2.245 million homes nationwide were 30 days or more post due, an increase of about 242,000 compared with August and an increase of about 80,000 compared with September 2016.
The bulk of the increase was in the FEMA-declared hurricane disaster areas, Black Knight says. Non-current inventory rose by about 84,000 (48%) in Irma disaster areas and by about 52,000 (67%) in those related to Harvey.
Prior to the hurricanes, Texas and Florida ranked 20th and 22nd among states by non-current mortgage rates; after the storms, they now rank third and fifth, respectively.
The serious delinquency rate was also up by about 19,000 properties nationwide compared with August.
The foreclosure inventory – which won’t see any impact from the storms for quite some time – continued to decrease. It stood at about 0.70%, as of the end of September, a decrease of 7.17% compared with the previous month and down 30.08% compared with a year earlier.
Nationwide, there were about 358,000 homes in the foreclosure inventory, down about 27,000 compared with August and down about 151,000 compared with September 2016.
There were about 45,200 foreclosure starts in September, a decrease of 17.37% compared with the previous month and down 26.74% compared with a year earlier.
The monthly prepayment rate in September was 0.96%, down 15.13% month over month and down 13.72% year over year.
