For the month of May, 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-percentage-point decrease compared to 4.7% in May 2021, according to CoreLogic’s monthly Loan Performance Insights Report for May 2022, released this week.
According to the report, in May 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): 1.1%, down from 1.2% in May 2021.
- Adverse delinquency (60 to 89 days past due): 0.3%, unchanged from May 2021.
- Serious delinquency (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure): 1.3%, down from 3.2% in May 2021 and a high of 4.3% in August 2020.
- Foreclosure inventory rate (the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process): 0.3%, unchanged from May 2021.
- Transition rate (the share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due): 0.6%, down from 0.7% in May 2021.
State and metro findings:
- In May, all states posted annual declines in their overall delinquency rates. The states with the largest declines were Nevada (down 3.2 percentage points), New York, New Jersey and Hawaii (all down 3.1 percentage points). The remaining states, including the District of Columbia, registered annual delinquency rate drops between 3 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, TX (down 5.6 percentage points), Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, HI (down 5.1 percentage points) and Laredo, TX (down 4.8 percentage points) posting the largest decreases.
The takeaway:
The U.S. overall mortgage delinquency rate declined for the 14th consecutive month on an annual basis in May to the lowest level recorded since January 1999, CoreLogic stated. While the national foreclosure rate remained flat year over year and month over month, the rate did have a small monthly uptick in March of this year. However, it too remains near a historic low. As in previous months, home price growth and the resulting equity accumulation helped keep foreclosure rates low in May, with year-over-year appreciation topping 20% this spring, CoreLogic reported.
“Early-state mortgage delinquencies are at a generational low supported by a strong labor market,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “Furthermore, serious delinquencies have declined to where they were in early 2020. While the foreclosure rate remains low, about half of serious delinquencies are from mortgages that are six months or more past due. This suggests that there could be small increases in the foreclosure rate later this year.”
