Florida appears to be the last glitch in the recovery as the mortgage delinquency rate declined for the sixth consecutive quarter to 4.09% in the second quarter of 2013, down 10% from 1Q13 and 26% from in 2Q12, according to TransUnion.
Analysts credit improving housing prices and low interest rates that helped homeowners refinance or sell for driving down
Nonetheless, “the recent and sizable increase in mortgage interest rates may eventually slow the progress,” said Tim Martin, group vice president of U.S. Housing in TransUnion’s financial services business unit, especially in states that are lagging behind in
Florida and Nevada, the two states with the highest mortgage delinquency rates in the nation, “had encouraging yearly drops” of 26.8% and 28.7%, respectively. Prices have improved in several
At 9.87%, Florida leads TransUnion’s list of the highest mortgage delinquency states in the second quarter followed by Nevada at 7.74%, New Jersey was 7.21% and New York is 5.70%.
Eyes are on Florida because as economists keep reminding everyone, what happens in Florida tends to more accurately show the economic health of national markets. Plus, national mortgage delinquency rate forecasts are based on assumptions that exclude unanticipated home price declines and economic shocks.
Every state and the District of Columbia reported improvement compared to 2012. The largest yearly mortgage delinquency declines were in Arizona with 41.7% and California at 40.8%.
At 95.4%, the delinquency rate of MSAs improved compared to 91% in the previous quarter, led by Phoenix with a drop of 47.7%.
TransUnion expects mortgage delinquency rate of borrowers 60 or more days past due will continue to descend in the third quarter to below 4% for the first time since 2008.
It is encouraging to see “many of the delinquent mortgages we have been tracking have been delinquent for a very long time, is coming down so significantly,” Martin said.
