The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate stood at 3.47% as of the end of April, according to Black Knight’s First Look report.
That’s a decrease of 5.05% compared with March and down 5.41% compared with April 2018.
It was the lowest national mortgage delinquency rate on record dating back to 2000.
About 1.8 million mortgages were 30 days or more past due but not in delinquency, according to the report, a decrease of about 91,000 compared with March and a decrease of about 73,000 compared with April 2018.
Of those, about 474,000 were seriously delinquent, or 90 days or more past due but not in foreclosure, a decrease of about 19,000 compared with the previous month and a decrease of about 124,000 compared with a year earlier.
It was the lowest serious delinquency rate in 12 years, Black Knight’s data shows.
The foreclosure inventory rate as of the end of April stood at about 0.50%, a decrease of 2.23% compared with March and a decrease of 18.77% compared with April 2018.
There were about 259,000 homes in the foreclosure inventory, down about 5,000 compared with the previous month and down about 55,000 compared with a year earlier.
There were about 41,400 foreclosure starts in April, an increase of 4.28% compared with March but down 16.02% compared wth April 2018.
Despite the monthly increase in foreclosure starts, they remained at a 13-year low, Black Knight says.
The monthly prepayment rate increased to 0.99%, an increase of 17.54% compared with the previous month and an increase of 17.65% compared with a year earlier.
Black Knight says the increase in prepayment activity is due to “a combination of low interest rates and seasonal increases in home sale activity.”
The firm further notes that prepayments increased 67% during the three-month period ended April 30.
