While delinquencies and foreclosure starts have been falling steadily, the impact from Hurricane Florence has yet to be fully assessed
The summer showed strong improvement in mortgage delinquencies, but fallout from Hurricane Florence could change that, according to new data from Black Knight.
Mortgage delinquencies fell again in August, according to the analytics firm. Delinquencies are now down 5.7% over the last two months – the strongest such decline during July-August on record. Foreclosure starts also fell during the month and are now more than 12% below last years’ level.
Delinquencies from last year’s hurricanes continue to decline as well, with just 25,100 remaining in the mainland US, according to Black Knight.
The impacts from Hurricane Florence, however, could put a damper on the good news. About 391,000 homeowners with mortgages live in Florence’s evacuation area, with 283,000 located in the 18 North Carolina counties that have been declared disaster areas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
If homeowners who were in Florence’s path face similar impacts to those seen from hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017, thousands of mortgage holders could fall behind on their payments, Black Knight said.
