The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate edged up to 3.57% in December, an increase of 5.55% compared with November and up 2.65% compared with December 2022, according to ICE Mortgage Technology’s First Look report.
As of the end of the month, there were about 1.9 million properties 30 days or more past due but not in foreclosure, an increase of about 105,000 compared with the previous month and up about 81,000 compared with a year ago.
ICE notes in its report that part of the reason delinquencies increased is because December ended on a Sunday, delaying the processing of payments made on the last day of the month.
About 475,000 properties were seriously delinquent (90 days or more past due but not in foreclosure), an increase of about 15,000 compared with the previous month but down about 108,000 compared with December 2022.
ICE notes that although serious delinquencies increased month-over-month they were still down 19% compared with December 2022.
The foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate was 0.40%, down about 2.4% compared with the previous month and down about 10.2% from a year earlier.
As of the end of the month there were about 212,000 properties in the foreclosure pipeline, down about 5,000 compared with November and down about 20,000 compared with December 2022.
There were about 24,000 foreclosure starts in December, down nearly 18% compared wit the previous month and down about 15% compared with a year earlier.
There were about 5,400 foreclosure sales, a decrease of 17% compared with November and down about 11.5% compared with December 2022.
The monthly prepayment rate was 0.39%, up about 4.89% from the previous month but down 4.68% compared to a year ago.
Photo: Alexander Grey
