US Mortgage Delinquencies Hit Another New Low in March, CoreLogic Reports

The national foreclosure rate remains the lowest in more than 20 years

IRVINE, Calif., June 14, 2022 — CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its monthly Loan Performance Insights Report for March 2022.

For the month of March, 2.7% of all mortgages in the U.S. were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure), representing a 2.2 percentage point decrease compared to 4.9% in March 2021.

To gain a complete view of the mortgage market and loan performance health, CoreLogic examines all stages of delinquency. In March 2022, the U.S. delinquency and transition rates and their year-over-year changes, were as follows:

• Early-Stage Delinquencies (30 to 59 days past due): 1%, unchanged from March 2021.
• Adverse Delinquency (60 to 89 days past due): 0.3%, down from 0.4% in March 2021.
• Serious Delinquency (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure): 1.4%, down from 3.5% in March 2021 and a high of 4.3% in August 2020.
• Foreclosure Inventory Rate (the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process): 0.2%, down from 0.3% in March 2021. This remains the lowest foreclosure rate recorded since at least January 1999.
• Transition Rate (the share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due): 0.5%, up from 0.4% in March 2021.

The national mortgage delinquency rate once again declined year over year and reached another historic low in March, with foreclosure activity following suit. A strong job market and income growth continue to drive down the number of property owners who are late on their mortgage payments, while rising home prices and the resulting equity gains are providing alternative options to those who may be coming out of forbearance and/or facing foreclosures. In the first quarter of 2022, U.S. homeowners saw equity increase by more than 32% on an annual basis, with the average borrower earning nearly $64,000 over the past year.

“The share of borrowers in any stage of delinquency was at an all-time low in the first quarter of 2022,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “However, more than one-third of delinquent mortgages remain six months or more past due on their payments. While we may see an uptick in distressed sales over the coming year, historic home equity gains should keep these sales from reaching elevated levels.”

State and Metro Takeaways:

• In March, all states posted annual declines in their overall delinquency rate. The states with the largest declines were Nevada (down 3.6 percentage points), Hawaii (down by 3.3 percentage points) and New Jersey (down by 3.2 percentage points). The remaining states, including the District of Columbia, registered annual delinquency rate drops between 3.1 percentage points and 0.9 percentage points.
• All U.S. metro areas posted at least a small annual decrease in overall delinquency rates, with Odessa, Texas (down 6.3 percentage points); Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, Hawaii (down 5.4 percentage points) and Laredo, Texas (down 5.2 percentage points) posting the largest drops. Those three metro areas also saw the largest annual deliquency declines in the country in January and February of 2022.

The next CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report will be released on July 12, 2022, featuring data for April 2022. For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the CoreLogic Intelligence Blog: www.corelogic.com/intelligence.

Methodology

The data in The CoreLogic LPI report represents foreclosure and delinquency activity reported through March 2022. The data in this report accounts for only first liens against a property and does not include secondary liens. The delinquency, transition and foreclosure rates are measured only against homes that have an outstanding mortgage. Homes without mortgage liens are not subject to foreclosure and are, therefore, excluded from the analysis. CoreLogic has approximately 75% coverage of U.S. foreclosure data.

Source: CoreLogic

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About CoreLogic

CoreLogic is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. The company’s combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.

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