The effects of last year's hurricane season on mortgage delinquencies continues to be felt
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The effects of last year’s hurricane season on mortgage delinquencies continues to be felt.
First-look data from Black Knight Financial shows that, in February, there was a 0.21% decline in the national total loan delinquency rate to 4.30%. However, that is 2.10% higher than a year earlier.
Hurricane-related delinquencies were down just 5% for the month and serious delinquencies related to hurricanes Irma and Harvey were down just 3%.
A total of 128,000 hurricane-related serious delinquencies remain in Texas, Florida, and Georgia.
Foreclosure starts fell 25% month-over-month and 19% year-over-year to 46,700. The total number of homes in pre-sale foreclosure inventory was 331,000, down 6,000 month-over-month and down 139,000 year-over-year.
Prepayment activity was at the lowest rate (0.72%) since 2014 amid rising interest rates.
The figures show that Mississippi (10.69%), Louisiana (9.11%), Florida (8.21%), Alabama (7.53%), and West Virginia (6.96%) had the highest rates of combined delinquencies and foreclosures as a share of all loans; while Idaho, Oregon, Washington, North Dakota, and Colorado had the lowest rates (all below 3%).
The states that showed the greatest improvement over 6 months were Washington, DC, New Jersey, New York, and New Mexico. Those that deteriorated most were Florida, Texas, North Dakota, Alaska, and Georgia.
