From Black Knight: Black Knight’s First Look: Strong April Mortgage Performance Pushes National Delinquency Rate to New Record Low; Prepayment Activity Continues to Rise
• Following a slow start to the year, the national delinquency rate fell by more than 5% month-over-month; at 3.47%, it is now at its lowest level on record dating back to 2000
• Serious delinquencies – loans 90 or more days past due, but not yet in foreclosure – fell to 474,000, marking a 124,000 year-over-year decline and a 12-year low
• While monthly foreclosure starts edged up slightly from March’s 18-year low, the number of loans in active foreclosure continued to shrink, hitting a more than 13-year low in April
• Prepayment activity continues to press upward, driven by a combination of low interest rates and seasonal increases in home sale activity
• The prepayment rate on first-lien mortgages rose 17% from March, bringing the three-month aggregate increase to 67%
According to Black Knight’s First Look report for April, the percent of loans delinquent decreased 5.0% in April compared to March, and decreased 5.4% year-over-year.
The percent of loans in the foreclosure process decreased 2.2% in April and were down 18.8% over the last year.
Black Knight reported the U.S. mortgage delinquency rate (loans 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure) was 3.47% in April, down from 3.65% in March.
The percent of loans in the foreclosure process decreased slightly in April to 0.50% from 0.51% in March.
The number of delinquent properties, but not in foreclosure, is down 73,000 properties year-over-year, and the number of properties in the foreclosure process is down 55,000 properties year-over-year.
| Black Knight: Percent Loans Delinquent and in Foreclosure Process | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2019 |
Mar 2019 |
Apr 2018 |
Apr 2017 |
|
| Delinquent | 3.47% | 3.65% | 3.67% | 4.08% |
| In Foreclosure | 0.50% | 0.51% | 0.61% | 0.85% |
| Number of properties: | ||||
| Number of properties that are delinquent, but not in foreclosure: | 1,812,000 | 1,903,000 | 1,885,000 | 2,072,000 |
| Number of properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory: | 259,000 | 264,000 | 314,000 | 433,000 |
| Total Properties | 2,072,000 | 2,167,000 | 2,199,000 | 2,505,000 |