Delinquencies fall sharply, seriously past-due loans at 12-year low

A first look at mortgage performance stats for October reveals a strong turnaround from the previous month.

Data from Black Knight Inc., shows that the sharp rise in delinquencies seen in September was followed by an 8.2% fall in October, bringing them to a level almost 18% below that of October 2017 (3.64%).

For the first time since 2006, the number of seriously past-due loans (90+ days) fell below 500,000 with decreases of 12,000 month-over-month and 90,000 year-over-year.

These year-over-year improvements are aided by the reduced impact of delinquencies resulting from hurricanes Irma and Harvey, which had caused a spike in late 2017.

Despite foreclosure starts seeing a monthly increase from September’s nearly 18-year low, the number of loans in active foreclosure fell slightly from September and has decreased by 24% from last year.

There are now just 267K loans remaining in active foreclosure; 1K fewer than last month and 81K than last month.

Prepayment activity remains below a year ago
Prepayment activity – now driven primarily by housing turnover – climbed 14% but remains 29% below last year’s level.

The states with the highest level of non-current percentage are: Mississippi (10%), Louisiana (7.89%), Alabama (6.76%), West Virginia (6.25%), and Arkansas (6.05%).

Those with the lowest level of non-current percentage are: Colorado (1.81%), Oregon (2.02%), Washington (2.25%), Idaho (2.26%), and North Dakota (2.30%).