Late payments on home loans fell again last month and now stand at the lowest level since the Great Recession. Junior liens are outperforming first mortgages.
Borrowers who were past-due at least three months on their residential first mortgages accounted for 1.36 percent of all first mortgages in September — a new post-recession low. The rate hasn’t increased in nine months.
The 90-day rate was down from August, when delinquency was 1.40 percent. It was also better than 1.99 percent in September 2011.
The statistics were included in the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices.
Second-mortgage delinquency fell to 0.64 percent last month from 0.72 percent. It was the lowest level on record in the eight-year history of the index.
The second-mortgage rate also improved from a year earlier, when 90-day delinquency stood at 1.32 percent.
The composite index, which additionally reflects delinquency on bank cards and auto loans, fell 4 basis points from August to a post-recession low of 1.46 percent. The composite index has fallen 64 BPS over the past year.
“We think it is very fair to say that 2012 has proven to be a period of financial repair for consumers,” David M. Blitzer , managing director and chairman of the index committee for S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in the report. “Consumers’ financial condition continues to improve as witnessed by these declining credit default rates.”
Among the top five metropolitan statistical areas, Dallas’ composite delinquency rate was the lowest at 1.03 percent.
New York’s composite rate was 1.28 percent, falling 21 BPS from August — the biggest decline among the five MSAs.
In Miami, the 90-day rate was 2.48 percent — the worst among the biggest areas.
