Mortgage delinquency rate flat year-over-year

There was a slight rise in early-stage delinquencies in December but the overall delinquency rate declined with lower serious delinquencies and foreclosures

Mortgage delinquency rate flat year-over-year

There was a slight rise in early-stage delinquencies in December but the overall delinquency rate declined with lower serious delinquencies and foreclosures.

CoreLogic reports that 5.3% of home loans nationally were in some stage of delinquency, the same as in December 2016.

The foreclosure rate was down to 0.6% compared to 0.8% a year earlier. The 0.6% rate has been held since August 2017 and is the lowest since June 2007. The last time the foreclosure rate was 0.6% in December was in 2006.

Wildfires impact early-stage delinquencies
A rise in early stage delinquencies, from 2.2% in December 2016 to 2.3% in December 2017 was driven by natural disasters.

“The effect of the wildfires and hurricanes on delinquency transition rates was all too clear in our latest analysis,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “In Sonoma and Napa counties, both 30-to-60 day and 60-to-90 day delinquent transition rates in December were more than double what they had averaged the prior year. Likewise, neighborhoods affected by hurricanes have seen a jump in transition rates in the months immediately following. These natural disasters have stalled or reversed the decline in 30-to-119 day delinquency rates that we had seen previously.”

The share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due was 1.1% in December, up from 1% in both November 2017 and December 2016.