Mortgage payments get back on track after Harvey and Irma

Hurricane-related delinquencies are subsiding somewhat, and pre-storm foreclosures that were put on hold are resuming.

Serious delinquencies of 90 or more days were down by 19,000 compared to the previous month at 707,000, according to Black Knight's First Look report.

Payments that were 90 or more days late and related to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma fell to 132,000 in January from 142,000 in December. Delinquencies of 90 days or more are still up by 43,000 from a year ago.

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In total, there were more than 2.5 million loans past due by 30 or more days in January, including foreclosures. That total was down more than 200,000 from December and down more than 100,000 from a year ago.

Mortgages that are delinquent by 30 days or more but are not in foreclosure made up more than 4% of all loans in January. Loans in this category were down more than 8.5% compared to the previous month, but up more than 1% year-to-year.

Foreclosure starts jumped 40% from December during January to 62,300. But foreclosure starts are down 11.51% year-over-year. Total loans in active foreclosure rose by 6,000 to 337,000.

Florida, which was hit hard by Irma, continues to be the state with the largest percentage of severe delinquencies, but its share has fallen back below 4%. Florida also has seen the most deterioration in its percentage of noncurrent loans over the past six months.

The prepayment rate slowed in the past month, falling almost 15% compared to December and almost 17% compared to a year ago.

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Delinquencies Foreclosures Distressed Black Knight Florida
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