The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate (loans 30 days or more past due but not in foreclosure) was 3.88% of all loans as of the end of December, an increase of 4.71% compared with November but down 17.55% compared with December 2017, according to Black Knight’s First Look report.
The firms says although the national mortgage delinquency rate has edged up for the past three months, in keeping with seasonal cycles, December marked the lowest year-end total since Black Knight began reporting the figure in 2000.
A little over two million residential properties were delinquent, an increase of about 88,000 compared with November but down by about 399,000 compared with a year earlier.
Of those, about 511,000 were seriously delinquent, meaning they were 90 days or more past due. That’s an increase of about 1,000 compared with the previous month but down about 215,000 compared with December 2017.
The pre-sale foreclosure inventory rate was about 0.52%, an increase of 1.19% compared with November but down 19.23% compared with December 2017.
It was the lowest year-end pre-sale foreclosure inventory rate since 2005, Black Knight says.
As of the end of the month, there were about 271,000 homes in the foreclosure inventory, an increase of about 3,000 compared with the previous month but down about 60,000 compared with a year earlier.
There were about 46,300 foreclosure starts in December, an increase of 2.43% compared with November and up 4.04% compared with December 2017.
The monthly prepayment rate increased slightly to 0.66%, but it was down nearly 30% compared with a year earlier.
