Distressed

Fears that foreclosures and abandoned property rates could spike once Covid-19 moratoriums ended have not come to fruition, Attom Data Solutions said.

The Federal Housing Administration's clarification addresses interpretations of an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that increased industry costs.

Amid numerous late payment improvements, foreclosure sales and prepayments ticked up.

The process of making changes to foreclosure prevention programs has been complicated by differences in how the Department of Veterans Affairs operates compared to an agency like the Federal Housing Administration.

Above and beyond the obvious damage, wildfires levied a hidden cost on the finance industry: Mortgage lenders and investors lost more than $30 billion between 2020 and 2022, due to both accelerated defaults and prepayments following disastrous blazes.

Elevated delinquency levels have not affected expected losses, however, due to home price appreciation, Fitch Ratings said.

"Lax regulation and monitoring of property insurers makes Florida mortgage markets far more exposed to climate risk than people might think," said Parinitha Sastry, an author of a working paper by researchers at Harvard University, Columbia University and the Federal Reserve.

But the number of properties whose mortgage is more than 90 days late is at its lowest since 2006, ICE Mortgage Technology said.

The government mortgage-bond guarantor will require additional information on foreclosure prevention actions, and retire some forbearance reporting.

The Supreme Court ruling on tax foreclosures could improve servicer recoveries but it's also giving some jurisdictions pause as they look at how to interpret it.