The percentage of mortgages 30 days or more past due declined slightly during September, according to CoreLogic’s Loan Performance Insights Report.
Nationwide, 5 percent of mortgages were delinquent in September, down 0.2 percentage points year-over-year compared with September 2016 (5.2 percent), CoreLogic said. The foreclosure rate — the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process — also declined in September, dropping from 0.8 percent in September 2016 to 0.6 percent in September 2017.
CoreLogic said the September foreclosure rate was the lowest for the month of September in 11 years when it was 0.5 percent in September 2006.
“September’s early-stage delinquency rate increased by 0.3 percent from a year ago, the largest increase since June 2009. This does not reflect a deterioration in credit, but rather the impact of the hurricanes in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico,” CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said in a release. “September’s early-stage delinquency transition rate rose to 2.6 percent in Texas and it rose to 3.2 percent in Florida, which is higher than the 1 percent that’s typical for both states. Texas and Florida’s early-stage delinquency transition rates in September are much lower than New Orleans in September 2005 when the transition rate reached 17.4 percent as a result of Hurricane Katrina.”
During September the serious delinquency rate (90 days or more past due) declined 0.4 percentage points year over year from 2.3 percent in September 2016 to 1.9 percent in September 2017.
“While natural hazard risk was elevated in 2017, the economic fundamentals that drive mortgage credit performance are the best in two decades,” CoreLogic President and CEO Frank Martell said. “The combination of strong job growth, low unemployment rates, steady economic performance and prudent underwriting has led to continued improvement in mortgage performance heading into next year.”