According to Black Knight Financial Services, 4.87% of mortgages were delinquent in September, up from 4.79% in August. The data reporting and analytics firm also reported that 1.46% of mortgages were in the foreclosure process in September, down from 1.89% September 2014.
Month over month, new foreclosure starts totaled 79,900, up 4.86%, but down 16.25% year over year. Nearly 2.5 million properties are 30 days or more past due on mortgage payments but not yet in foreclosure, down 392,000 compared with September 2014 and up 44,000 month over month. Another 817,000 properties were 90 days or more past due on mortgage payments, but not yet in foreclosure. The number of properties in pre-sale foreclosure totaled 737,000 at the end of September, down 11,000 month over month and down 214,000 year over year.
The rise in delinquencies is typical for this time of year, while both the 90 plus day delinquencies and the foreclosure inventories continue to improve.
At the end of the September, Florida relinquished its eight-year claim as the state with the highest foreclosure inventory in the country. Over the past 12 months, Florida has cut its foreclosure inventory by 43% from more than 160,000 to under 100,000. The title for the most properties in foreclosure now rests in New York, with an inventory of about 120,000.
The severely delinquent loan rate — i.e., loans that were current six months ago but are now at least 60 days past due — rose in September, but that is a seasonal phenomenon. The September rate of 0.66% is the lowest of any September since the recovery began in 2009.
Among the severely delinquent loans, the highest percentage, 1.71%, are holdovers from bubble era mortgages (2005 through 2008). Loans made since 2009 account for 68% of all active mortgages but only account for about 34% of new serious delinquencies.
More data is available in Black Knight’s Mortgage Data Monitor for September.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks