Quarterly foreclosure activity on prime mortgages serviced by U.S. financial institutions fell as subprime filings climbed. But repossessions on prime loans shot up. Meanwhile, government mortgages are performing worse than overall mortgages — though government loans in foreclosures are lower.
Overall residential delinquency of at least 30 days, excluding foreclosures, climbed to 9.6 percent as of Sept. 30 from 8.5 percent three months earlier, according to the third-quarter OCC and OTS Mortgage Metrics Report. Late payments were just 6.8 percent a year earlier.
The report reflects data on around 34,024,602 first liens for $5.9990 trillion that were serviced by national banks and federally regulated thrifts as of Sept. 30. These financial institutions service nearly two-thirds of outstanding U.S. mortgages. Loans serviced were up from 33,832,014 units for $5.9692 trillion at the end of the second quarter.
Outstanding prime mortgages, where the borrower’s credit score is at least 660, accounted for 68 percent of outstanding loans at the end of September. Alt-A mortgages, which include loans with credit scores of at least 620, represented 10 percent of the Sept. 30 total, while the share of subprime borrowers whose scores were below 620 was 8 percent.
Prime delinquency climbed to 5.4 percent from the second quarter’s 4.7 percent, while Alt-A delinquency rose to 18.5 percent from 16.7 percent, and subprime delinquency was up to 30.3 percent from 28.0 percent.
On just government-guaranteed mortgages, delinquency finished the third quarter at 14.5 percent, up from 13.2 percent in the prior period. Late payments on payment-option adjustable-rate mortgages finished the latest period at 20.4 percent, up from the second quarter’s 19.7 percent.
New foreclosure filings were 369,209, barely changed from 369,226 in the second quarter. New filings were 281,285 in the third-quarter 2008.
New prime foreclosures fell to 179,087 from the second quarter’s 194,071, while subprime foreclosures jumped to 81,721 from 69,383 and new Alt-A filings were mostly unchanged at 69,566.
From January through September, 1,109,002 new foreclosures were filed.
Foreclosures in process finished the third quarter at 3.2 percent, up from 2.9 percent three months earlier and 1.8 percent 12 months earlier. Option-ARM foreclosures in process rose to 11.9 percent from 10.0 percent the prior quarter. The prime foreclosure rate was 2.3 percent, the Alt-A rate was 5.8 percent and the subprime rate was 7.9 percent.
While government delinquency was worse than overall late payments, government foreclosures in process stood at just 2.5 percent, up from the second quarter’s 2.0 percent. However, the lower government figures are tied to heavy originations during the past year which have not yet had a chance to progress through the delinquency cycle.
Foreclosures were completed on 118,603 loans, rising from the second quarter’s 105,993 and the third-quarter 2008’s 127,730. So far this year, 315,282 foreclosures were completed.
Prime real-estate-owned filings shot up to 57,737 from the second quarter’s 50,083, while Alt-A REOs rose to 21,175 from 19,776. Subprime repossessions were mostly unchanged at 21,162.
New short sales were 30,766, up 22 percent from the second quarter.
