Foreclosures

The Department of Veterans Affairs ended a break for borrowers put at a disadvantage by a discontinuation of pandemic aid as they transitioned to a new program.

With proposed tariffs on homebuilding materials working looming and a cloudy forecast for mortgage rates, young homebuyers are facing increased volatility.

Foreclosure filings increased 7% in January from December, which could be a housing market starting to experience trouble, or a post-holiday return to normal.

Completed foreclosure auctions should be 8% lower this year, but if home value and unemployment expectations change, all bets are off, Auction.com said.

Only some of the increase compared with October can be attributed to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, as annual rates have increased six months in a row, ICE Mortgage Technology said.

For the fourth month in a row, overall mortgage delinquency rates have increased, with loans 30 days or more late up 0.2 percentage points in September.

Delinquent borrowers in areas hit by Hurricanes Helene and Milton will get a few additional months to find solutions before servicers can resume legal actions.

Serious mortgage delinquencies are at their highest since May 2023, and early payment default activity is also a concern, ICE Mortgage Technology said.

Just because millions of empty properties are located in U.S. cities, it doesn't counter the fact that an inventory shortage exists, or fix it, LendingTree said.

Property insurance and taxes account for over one-third of current loan performance risk, according to Auction.com's recent survey of default servicing leaders.

On the whole, foreclosure times are back where they were before the pandemic, but in one state the average is over 10 years, according to Attom's latest data.

The 22,385 homes entering the process last month was a 3% monthly increase but a 4% annual decline.

Distressed borrowers in parts of Maine, Nebraska and West Virginia are the latest to get short-term leniency on government loan payments due to disasters.

The Department of Veterans Affairs asked servicers to suspend foreclosures beyond May, with exceptions for circumstances like borrower readiness to proceed.

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.

Late payments on VA loans were up markedly within the first quarter, in contrast to other products, according to new Mortgage Bankers Association data.

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.

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.