U.S. Mortgage Performance Remains Exceptionally Healthy

For the month of November, 2.9% of all mortgages in the U.S. were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure), representing a 0.7 percentage point decrease compared to 3.6% in November 2021.

To gain a complete view of the mortgage market and loan performance health, CoreLogic examines all stages of delinquency. In November 2022, the U.S. delinquency and transition rates, and their year-over-year changes, were as follows:

• Early-Stage Delinquencies (30 to 59 days past due): 1.4%, up from 1.2% in November 2021.
• Adverse Delinquency (60 to 89 days past due): 0.4%, up from 0.3% in November 2021.
• Serious Delinquency (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure): 1.2%, down from 2% in November 2021 and a high of 4.3% in August 2020.
• Foreclosure Inventory Rate (the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process): 0.3%, up from 0.2% in November 2021.
• Transition Rate (the share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due): 0.7%, up from November 2021.

Overall mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates remained near record lows in November 2022, 2.9% and 0.3%, respectively. While national mortgage delinquencies declined for the 20^th straight month on an annual basis, 18 U.S. metro areas saw at least slight increases in late borrower payments, up from six in October and one in September. Despite that uptick and slowing home price growth in recent months, most owners are in good shape due to healthy amounts of equity. CoreLogic’s latest Home Equity Report shows that U.S. homeowners with a mortgage saw their equity increase by 15.8% year over year in the third quarter of 2022, for an average gain of $34,300 per borrower.

“Most homeowners are well positioned to weather a shallow recession,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “More than a decade of home price increases has given homeowners record amounts of equity, which protects them from foreclosure should they fall behind on their mortgage payments.”

State and Metro Takeaways:

• In November, all states posted annual declines in overall delinquency rates. The states and districts with the largest declines were Louisiana (down 1.9 percentage points), Alaska (down 1.6 percentage points) and the District of Columbia and Hawaii (both down 1.3 percentage points). The remaining states’ annual delinquency rates dropped between 0.1 percentage points and 1.2 percentage points.
• In November, 18 U.S. metro areas posted an increase in overall delinquency rates. The top three areas for mortgage delinquency gains year over year were Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida (up 3.1 percentage points), Punta Gorda, Florida (up 2.9 percentage points) and Bloomsburg-Berwick, Pennsylvania (up 0.6 percentage points).
• All but one U.S. metro area posted at least a small annual decrease in serious delinquency rates, with Houma-Thibodeaux, Louisiana (down 4.2 percentage points), Odessa, Texas (down 3 percentage points) and New Orleans and Hammond, Louisiana (both down 2.9 percentage points) posting the largest declines. The only U.S. metro to see an increase in serious delinquencies was Bloomsburg-Berwick, Pennsylvania.

Methodology

The data in The CoreLogic LPI report represents foreclosure and delinquency activity reported through November 2022. The data in this report accounts for only first liens against a property and does not include secondary liens. The delinquency, transition and foreclosure rates are measured only against homes that have an outstanding mortgage. Homes without mortgage liens are not subject to foreclosure and are, therefore, excluded from the analysis. CoreLogic has approximately 75% coverage of U.S. foreclosure data.