Home-loan delinquency dropped during last month, with the improvement concentrated in early defaults.
Residential mortgages that were at least a month past due fell to 12.95 in February from 13.06 percent a month earlier, according to monthly data released by Lender Processing Services Inc. Defaults have also declined from February 2010, when the rate was 13.50 percent.
Based on the number of loans, 6,856,000 mortgages were delinquent last month, an improvement from January’s 6,922,000.
Loans that were at least 30 days past due but not yet in foreclosure accounted for 8.80 percent of loans, 10 basis points better than a month earlier. The foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate was 4.15 percent, nudging down from 4.16 percent a month prior.
LPS said that the states with the highest delinquency rates were Florida, Nevada, Mississippi, New Jersey and Georgia.
On the other end of the spectrum were Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota and North Dakota.
