Delinquencies Recovered from January Spike: Black Knight

Mortgage loan delinquencies improved from their spike in January to reach the lowest level recorded since April 2007, according to Black Knight Financial Services.

Mortgage delinquencies dropped roughly 13% month-over-month and 16% from last year to 4.45% in February, according to the report released Wednesday. Overall, the total noncurrent inventory fell by 327,000 units, or 10%, from January to 2.9 million units — the first time in nearly eight years that the figure fell below the 3 million mark.

Foreclosure starts, though, jumped 17.25% from the month prior to 84,300 in February, mainly on an increase in repeat foreclosures in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

In the past six months, only California and North Dakota saw noncurrent rates rise — they went up 2.6% and 1.9%, respectively. Mississippi still led the country in having the highest noncurrent percentage at 11.43%.

Black Knight also reported that February's monthly prepayment rate was 0.89%, a 10% increase month-over-month but a 22% drop from last year's figure.