May 14, 2012 (Shirley Allen)
First-time foreclosure starts hit a five month high in March helping to push overall foreclosure starts up 8.1 percent from the previous month according to the Mortgage Monitor Report released by Lender Processing Services (LPS), but rates were still more than 31 percent below last year’s levels.
Foreclosure sales were 8.5 percent lower than they were in February and were at their lowest level since December 2010.
The percentage of loans that were 30 days or more past due, but not yet in foreclosure, fell from 7.57 percent in February to 7.09 percent in March and was at their lowest level since August 2008. The delinquency rate was 8.8 percent lower than what it was in March 2011.
The foreclosure inventory decreased in March to a total of 2.060 million properties, down from 2.065 million properties in February, a decline of 5,000 properties. Compared to a year ago, there are 1.6 percent fewer homes in the foreclosure inventory.
Foreclosure inventory in judicial states continues to be substantially higher than non-judicial states. Compared to the national pre-sale foreclosure rate of 4.14 percent, judicial states on average have a foreclosure rate of 6.51 percent while non-judicial states have an average foreclosure rate of 2.45 percent.
Over 40 percent of the homes in the foreclosure inventory have been there for over two years.
The number of properties in the shadow inventory also declined, falling from 1.772 million properties in February to 1.643 million properties in March, a decrease of 129,000 properties.
The total number of properties that were either delinquent or in foreclosure declined from 5.846 million in February to 5.591 million in March, a decline of 4.4 percent.
Earlier highlights from LPS’s “First Look” report include:
Total U.S. loan delinquency rate (loans 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure): 7.09% compared to 7.57% in February 2012
Month-over-month change in delinquency rate: -6.3% compared to -5.0% in February 2012
Year-over-year change in delinquency rate: -8.8% compared to -14.0% in February 2011
Total U.S foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate: 4.14% compared to 4.13% in February 2012
Month-over-month change in foreclosure presale inventory rate: -0.1% compared to -0.5% in February 2012
Year-over-year change in foreclosure presale inventory rate: -1.6% compared to -0.3% in February 2011
Number of properties that are 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure: (A) 3,531,000 compared to 3,781,000 in February 2012
Number of properties that are 90 or more days delinquent, but not in foreclosure: 1,643,000 compared to 1,722,000 in February 2012
Number of properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory: (B) 2,060,000 compared to 2,065,000 in February 2012
Number of properties that are 30 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure: (A+B) 5,591,000 compared to 5,846,000 in February 2012
States with highest percentage of non-current* loans: FL, MS, NV, NJ, IL (FL, MS, NV, NJ, IL in February 2012)
States with the lowest percentage of non-current* loans: MT, AK, SD, WY, ND (MT, AK, WY, SD, ND in February 2012)
*Non-current totals combine foreclosures and delinquencies as a percent of active loans in that state.
Notes:
(1) Totals are extrapolated based on LPS Applied Analytics’ loan-level database of mortgage assets.
(2) All whole numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand.
Tags: LPS, mortgage delinquency rate, foreclosure inventory, non-current loans
Source:
LPS
