October 23, 2012 (Shirley Allen)

Mortgage delinquencies increased for the first time in three months in September, jumping 7.72 percent from August and rising 4.19 percent above last year’s levels according to the latest “First Look” Mortgage Report released by Lender Processing Services (LPS).

The percentage of loans that were 30 days or more past due, but not yet in foreclosure, increased from 6.87 percent in August to 7.40 percent in September as nearly 270,000 new homeowners found themselves in trouble during the month. The huge influx of delinquencies pushed the delinquency rate 4.19 percent higher than in September 2011.

The good news is that the foreclosure inventory continued to decrease in September to a total of 1.940 million properties, down from 2.020 million properties in August, a decline of 80,000 properties. The foreclosure inventory was 7.37 percent lower than a year ago.

The number of properties in the shadow inventory however did increase, climbing from 1.520 million properties in August to 1.530 million properties in September, a gain of 10,000 properties.

In all, more homeowners found themselves in trouble as the total number of properties that were either delinquent or in some stage of foreclosure increased from 5.450 million in August to 5.640 million in September.

The “First Look” report contains highlights of the company’s forthcoming Mortgage Monitor report which will provide a more in-depth review including an analysis of data supplemented by in-depth charts and graphs that reflect trend and point-in-time observations.

Early highlights of the report include:

Total U.S. loan delinquency rate (loans 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure): 7.40% compared to 6.87% in August 2012

Month-over-month change in delinquency rate: 7.72% compared to -2.3% in August 2012

Year-over-year change in delinquency rate: 4.19% compared to -10.6% in August 2012

Total U.S foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate: 3.87% compared to 4.04% in August 2012

Month-over-month change in foreclosure presale inventory rate: -4.05% compared to -1.0% in August 2012

Year-over-year change in foreclosure presale inventory rate: -7.37% compared to -2.0% in August 2012

Number of properties that are 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure: (A) 3,700,000 compared to 3,430,000 in August 2012

Number of properties that are 90 or more days delinquent, but not in foreclosure: 1,530,000 compared to 1,520,000 in August 2012

Number of properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory: (B) 1,940,000 compared to 2,020,000 in August 2012

Number of properties that are 30 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure: (A+B) 5,640,000 compared to 5,450,000 in August 2012

States with highest percentage of non-current* loans: FL, MS, NJ, NV, IL (FL, MS, NJ, NV, IL in August 2012)

States with the lowest percentage of non-current* loans: MT, AK, SD, WY, ND (MT, AK, SD, WY, ND in August 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