Distressed

More than 500 employees will be affected by the acquisition, which includes rights related to 140,000 residential loans, but Community Loan Servicing will retain its name and commercial operations.

While smaller in number, initiated foreclosures had a similar consecutive-quarter gain as the market transitioned away from pandemic-related relief that has artificially constrained workout activity.

The share who made timely payments inched up for the first time since June of last year.

Private-market loans nudged the total number up during a processing lull, according to Black Knight.

The increase in second-lien residential loans in this category was even more pronounced, according to Standard & Poor’s Dow Jones Indices and Experian.

Completions were the one type of activity tracked by Attom that slowed month-to-month, suggesting catch-up actions related to a pre-pandemic overhang of distressed loans.

The overall number for late payments hasn’t looked this favorable since at least 1999, according to CoreLogic’s December report.

The number of properties in limbo is up 10.3% from the same time last year, according to Attom Data Solutions.

However, while the national average is not too far from its decade-low of 5.4%, the range found in different states varies considerably.

The total percentage of loans that were not delinquent or in foreclosure rose slightly to 94.91% in January.

Recent reports by Standard & Poor’s, Experian and an industry trade group show changes in loan performance and credit over the course of the past month.

An uptick in pandemic-related payment suspensions reflecting new or restarted plan activity previously occurred as the omicron variant spread, but activity has since subsided.

While the significant drop in suspended payments overall from the pandemic’s peak suggests many have recovered from related hardships, the uptick points to some new distress.

The number of loans with payments 90-plus days late but not in foreclosure has fallen below 1 million, but the total is still double pre-pandemic levels, according to Black Knight’s measure.

The residential market is generally healthy, but distress is growing in areas where foreclosures are more common, homes are less affordable, and more properties are underwater, Attom finds.

The remaining 705,000 borrowers with pandemic-related payment suspensions may have complex or recent hardships to sort out, but the majority who had plans have exited them.

The coming change will further test the effectiveness of Biden administration policies aimed at putting more affordable properties in the hands of consumers or charitable organizations.

COVID loan forbearance championed by progressives has created a new, permanent class of distressed borrower, Whalen writes.

But the number remaining was still more than twice as high as pre-pandemic, according to Black Knight.

Further declines occurred in November, albeit at a slower pace than in October, according to a new loan performance report from the Mortgage Bankers Association.