First look at mortgage data shows performance rebounded after sluggish start
Mortgage performance was disappointing in February and March with a rise in delinquencies in February followed by the weakest improvement for the month of March in 6 years.
But a first look at mortgage data from April by Black Knight reveals a jump in performance with a record low for delinquencies of 3.47%, following the strongest improvement for April (more than 5% month-over-month) the firm has ever seen since it began tracking the data in 2000.
Serious delinquencies (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.
And the prepayment rate on first-lien mortgages rose 17% from March, bringing the three-month aggregate increase to 67%, driven by a combination of low interest rates and seasonal increases in home sale activity.
Monthly foreclosure starts edged up 4.28% from March’s 18-year low, although the number of loans in active foreclosure continued to shrink, hitting a more than 13-year low in April.
The states with the highest non-current percentage were Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, West Virginia, and Arkansas. While the bottom five were North Dakota, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado.
