Foreclosure Starts Rise, but Overall Inventory Falls: Report

Despite overall foreclosure inventory falling in July, foreclosure starts were up for the third consecutive month, according to a "first look" report from Black Knight Financial Services.

There were 90,700 loans that began the foreclosure process in July, a 2.7% increase than the previous month. However, foreclosure starts are still down approximately 20% compared to a year ago, the report revealed.

Meanwhile, the overall inventory of loans in foreclosure continues to decline, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based analytic provider said in Tuesday's report. The foreclosure pre-sale inventory is currently 935,000 properties, which is down both on a monthly and yearly basis, by 1.7% and 34%, respectively. This July figure represents the lowest inventory level since March 2008, Black Knight said.

Through July, the average loan in foreclosure has been past due for 1,001 days.

Even though foreclosure starts are rising, July saw delinquency rates come back down again after a slight uptick the month before. The July delinquency rate fell 1.1%, bringing the total delinquent inventory to more than 2.8 million properties.

The top five states with the highest percentage of active loans in foreclosure or delinquent were Mississippi (14.2%), New Jersey (12.4%), Florida (10.9%), Louisiana (10.9%) and New York (10.8%).

Black Knight's report analyzes mortgage performance statistics derived from the company's loan-level database that represents approximately two-thirds of the overall market.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Servicing Data and information management
MORE FROM NATIONAL MORTGAGE NEWS