There were roughly 42,000 foreclosure starts nationwide in September, an increase of 43.5% compared with August and up 60.5% compared with September 2024, according to ICE Mortgage Technology’s latest First Look loan performance report.
Still, overall mortgage performance remains historically strong, the firm says, with both delinquencies and foreclosure activity remaining below long-term averages.
The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate for September edged down slightly to 3.42%. As of the end of the month, about 1.877 million mortgages were 60 days or more past due but not in foreclosure, down about 8,000 compared with August and down about 4,000 compared with September 2024.
There were roughly 477,000 residential properties in serious delinquency (90 days or more past due but not in foreclosure) in September, down about 5,000 compared with the previous month but up about 1,000 compared with a year earlier.
ICE notes that most of the delinquencies in September were FHA loans. Delinquency and foreclosure rates improved among GSE, VA and portfolio-held loans.
While some shifts are emerging among government-backed loan segments, these trends largely represent a normalization of market dynamics rather than broad-based weakness, ICE says.
“The mortgage market remains remarkably resilient, with mortgage performance continuing to hold up well,” says Andy Walden, head of mortgage and housing market research at ICE, in the report. “Delinquency rates improved in September, and even as we see increases in activity among FHA loans, we’re largely returning to more typical levels following several years of artificially low foreclosure volumes.”
The foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate was 0.40%, an increase of 5.7% from the previous month and up 16.3% compared with a year earlier.
As of the end of September, there were about 222,000 residential properties in the foreclosure pre-sale inventory, an increase of about 12,000 compared with August and up about 34,000 compared with September 2024.
There were about 7,200 foreclosure sales in September, up 2.7% compared with the previous month and up nearly 35% from a year earlier.
The monthly prepayment rate stood at 0.74%, an increase of 11.7% compared with August and up 15.3% compared with September 2024.
Photo: Matthew Moloney