Mortgage Delinquency in November Reaches the Lowest Level since March

CoreLogic

CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its monthly Loan Performance Insights Report for November 2020. On a national level, 5.9% of mortgages were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure), which represents a 2-percentage point increase in the overall delinquency rate compared to November 2019, when it was 3.9%. This is the lowest overall delinquency rate since an initial jump in April 2020.

Figure 1: National Overview of Loan Performance

To gain an accurate view of the mortgage market and loan performance health, CoreLogic examines all stages of delinquency, including the share that transitions from current to 30 days past due. In November 2020, 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%, down from 2% in November 2019.
  • Adverse Delinquency (60 to 89 days past due): 0.6%, unchanged from November 2019.
  • Serious Delinquency (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure): 3.9%, up from 1.3% in November 2019. This is the lowest serious delinquency rate since June 2020, pointing to signs of increasing stabilization.
  • Foreclosure Inventory Rate (the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process): 0.3%, down from 0.4% in November 2019.
  • Transition Rate (the share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due): 0.8%, down from 1% in November 2019.

The unemployment rate fell from 14.8% in April to 6.7% by the end of 2020. Unfortunately, the 2020 recession has had a disparate impact on households, with those in oil and hospitality industries especially hard hit. However, the recent rebound in employment has helped some struggling homeowners begin to make payments again.

“The consistent decline in serious delinquency since August is a sign of growing financial stability for families,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “In addition to ensuring that homeowners stay in their homes, the decline in delinquency means fewer distressed sales, which is both a positive for individual households and the overall housing market.”

“Urban areas hit hard by the pandemic recession or by a natural disaster experienced the largest spike in delinquency over the last year,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “Forbearance and loan modification helped struggling families rebuild their financial house in hard-hit places. While vaccination will mitigate the pandemic, the best cure for delinquency is income restoration through job creation.”

State and Metro Takeaways:

  • Every state logged an annual increase in overall delinquency rates in November.
  • Hawaii (up 4.3 percentage points) and Nevada (up 4.2 percentage points) topped the list for gains.
  • Nearly all U.S. metro areas logged an increase in overall delinquency rates in November compared with one year earlier.
  • Odessa, Texas, experienced the largest annual increase with 9.5 percentage points, likely due to significant job loss in the oil industry.
  • Other metro areas with significant increases included Lake Charles, Louisiana (up 9.1 percentage points); Midland, Texas (up 7.4 percentage points) and Kahului, Hawaii (up 7.2 percentage points).
Table 1: Change in Overall Delinquency Rate and Unemployment Share for Select States
Table 2: Foreclosure and Delinquency Rates for Select Metropolitan Areas

The next CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report will be released on March 9, 2021, featuring data for December 2020 and looking back on the year. For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the CoreLogic Insights Blog: www.corelogic.com/insights.

Methodology

The data in The CoreLogic LPI report represents foreclosure and delinquency activity reported through November 2020. 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.

Source: CoreLogic

The data provided is for use only by the primary recipient or the primary recipient’s publication or broadcast. This data may not be re-sold, republished or licensed to any other source, including publications and sources owned by the primary recipient’s parent company without prior written permission from CoreLogic. Any CoreLogic data used for publication or broadcast, in whole or in part, must be sourced as coming from CoreLogic, a data and analytics company. For use with broadcast or web content, the citation must directly accompany first reference of the data. If the data is illustrated with maps, charts, graphs or other visual elements, the CoreLogic logo must be included on screen or website.

CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), the leading provider of property insights and solutions, promotes a healthy housing market and thriving communities. Through its enhanced property data solutions, services and technologies, CoreLogic enables real estate professionals, financial institutions, insurance carriers, government agencies and other housing market participants to help millions of people find, buy and protect their homes.

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