Seriously delinquent mortgages hit lowest point since 2006

October's loan delinquencies, especially those in serious delinquency, got much healthier after improving from the fallout of the last two hurricane seasons, according to Black Knight.

The total number of properties with loans 90 or more days past due dropped to 499,000 in October. It represented a 12-year low, falling 90,000 from a year earlier and 14,000 from the prior month as properties rebounded from the aftermath of past hurricanes.

Mortgage delinquency rate

"Long-term delinquencies related to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma peaked late last year, but have showed continued improvement ever since. In turn, this improvement has largely driven the significant year-over-year reductions we've seen in serious delinquencies recently," Ben Graboske, executive vice president of Black Knight's data and analytics division, said in a statement to NMN.

"More broadly speaking, though, the high quality of post-crisis mortgage originations and the historically low levels of new troubled loans we're seeing enter the market have resulted in a more than 12-year low in a serious delinquencies," Graboske continued.

Overall, the delinquency rate went down to 3.64%, a 17.9% year-over-year drop. After enduring the largest monthly spike in 10 years in September following the damage of Hurricane Florence, delinquencies bounced back by declining 8.2% month-over-month.

Of all the states, Mississippi's delinquency rate was highest at 10%. Louisiana followed with 7.89% and Alabama was third with 6.76%.

Total active foreclosures also fell to 267,000, dropping 24.24% from the year before and 0.54% from September.

Foreclosure starts, on the other hand, went up to 50,600, rising 0.8% year-over-year and 26.5% month-over-month. However, this was after reaching an 18-year low in September.

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Delinquencies Foreclosures Distressed Black Knight
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