The overall mortgage delinquency rate (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure) was 4.9% as of the end of January, a decrease 0.2 percentage points compared with January 2017, when it was 5.1%, according to CoreLogic’s Loan Performance Insights Report.
Helping to drive the decrease was a reduction in early stage delinquencies associated with hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, which struck in August/September 2017, as well as the California wildfires which struck in December.
The rate for early-stage delinquencies – defined as 30 to 59 days past due – was 2% in January, down from 2.3% in December and down from 2.1% in January 2017.
The share of mortgages that were 60 to 89 days past due was 0.8%, unchanged compared with December but up from 0.7% in January 2017.
The serious delinquency rate (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure), was 2.1% in January, unchanged from December but down 2.3% compared with January 2017.
It was the lowest serious delinquency rate since January 2007, when it was 1.5%.
The foreclosure inventory rate was 0.6%, down 0.2 percentage points from 0.8% in January 2017. It was the lowest level since June 2007.
The foreclosure inventory rate has been steady at 0.6% since August 2017.
The January foreclosure inventory rate was the lowest in 11 years; it was also 0.6% in January 2007.
“The areas hit by last year’s hurricanes and wildfires are experiencing the ‘pig in a python’ effect on their local delinquency rates,” says Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Early-stage delinquencies have largely dropped back to normal, while serious delinquency remains elevated. In hard-hit markets, like the Houston and Naples metro areas, serious delinquency is triple what it was before the hurricanes. And in the San Juan area of Puerto Rico, serious delinquency has quadrupled.”
“Except for the metropolitan areas affected by natural disasters, most of the country has seen delinquency and foreclosure rates move lower over the past year,” adds Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Declines in the unemployment rate have supported a rise in income, and home-price growth has built home equity. These two economic forces coupled with high-quality underwriting have lowered overall delinquency rates.”
