Delinquencies spike to 4-year high

A spike in early-stage delinquencies pushed the national mortgage delinquency rate to its highest level in more than four years, according to a new report from CoreLogic.

As of April, the latest month covered in CoreLogic’s Loan Performance Insights Report, 6.1% of home mortgages were in some stage of delinquency (defined as at least 30 days past due, and including homes in foreclosure). The April delinquency rate spiked 2.5 percentage points from March as the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting recession impacted borrowers’ ability to make their mortgage payments. The spike ended a 27-month streak of consecutive year-over-year decreases in the delinquency rate, and pushed the rate to its highest level since January of 2016.

The share of mortgages in early-stage delinquency – 30 to 59 days past due – was 4.2% in April, up from 1.7% the year before. The share of mortgages 60 to 89 days past due was 0.7%, up from 0.6% in April of 2019. However, the serious delinquency rate – defined as 90 days or more past due and including loans in foreclosure – inched down to 1.2% from 1.3% last year, hitting its lowest level since June 2000. The foreclosure inventory rate fell from 0.4% to 0.3%, its lowest level in at least 21 years, according to CoreLogic.

New York had the highest delinquency rate at 10%, while South Dakota had the lowest at 3%. All states posted annual increases in their overall delinquency rates. The states that saw the biggest jumps were New York (up 4.7 percentage points), New Jersey (up 4.6 percentage points), Nevada (up 4.5 percentage points) and Florida (up four percentage points).