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, according to the latest Loan Performance Insights Report for March 2022 from CoreLogic, released this past week.
Additional key findings:
- 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.
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 takeaway:
CoreLogic says 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, CoreLogic says. 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.”
