Delinquent mortgages on the decline – CoreLogic

Delinquency is at a 10-year low, according to the analytics firm

Delinquent mortgages on the decline – CoreLogic
Early-stage delinquencies have decreased, as late mortgage payments declined by 1.1% compared with last year, according to CoreLogic.
Just 5.3% of mortgages were delinquent in January, compared with 6.4% in January of 2016.

January also saw a decrease in foreclosure inventory rate, as it went down to 0.8%, versus 1.1 from the same month last year. The serious delinquency rate also decreased to 2.5% from 3.2% in January 2016.

Year-over-year, early-stage delinquencies were also lower in January at 2.1% compared with 2.4% in 2016.

“The 30-plus delinquency rate, the most comprehensive measure of mortgage performance, is at a 10-year low and rapidly declining,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “While late-stage delinquencies remain in the pipeline in selected markets, early-stage delinquency performance is stellar and the lowest it’s been in two decades. The continued improvement in mortgage performance bodes well for the health of the market in 2017.”

Mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due also went down to 0.9% in January this year from 1.2% last year.

“Steady job and income growth, combined with full-doc underwriting, has led to low early-stage delinquencies,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “January’s 0.9% transition rate for current to 30 days late is lower than a year ago and much lower than the 1.5% average from 2000 and 2001, during which the foreclosure rate was, conversely, lower than it is today.”