Delinquencies ease but hurricane impacts remain

The effects of last year's hurricane season on mortgage delinquencies continues to be felt

Delinquencies ease but hurricane impacts remain

The effects of last year’s hurricane season on mortgage delinquencies continues to be felt.

First-look data from Black Knight Financial shows that, in February, there was a 0.21% decline in the national total loan delinquency rate to 4.30%. However, that is 2.10% higher than a year earlier.

Hurricane-related delinquencies were down just 5% for the month and serious delinquencies related to hurricanes Irma and Harvey were down just 3%.

A total of 128,000 hurricane-related serious delinquencies remain in Texas, Florida, and Georgia.

Foreclosure starts fell 25% month-over-month and 19% year-over-year to 46,700. The total number of homes in pre-sale foreclosure inventory was 331,000, down 6,000 month-over-month and down 139,000 year-over-year.

Prepayment activity was at the lowest rate (0.72%) since 2014 amid rising interest rates.

The figures show that Mississippi (10.69%), Louisiana (9.11%), Florida (8.21%), Alabama (7.53%), and West Virginia (6.96%) had the highest rates of combined delinquencies and foreclosures as a share of all loans; while Idaho, Oregon, Washington, North Dakota, and Colorado had the lowest rates (all below 3%).

The states that showed the greatest improvement over 6 months were Washington, DC, New Jersey, New York, and New Mexico. Those that deteriorated most were Florida, Texas, North Dakota, Alaska, and Georgia.