Monthly home loan performance remained strong, with the rates of serious mortgage delinquency and foreclosure at their lowest levels in a decade.
Delinquency of at least 30 days on U.S. single-family loans finished August at 4.6 percent.
That was the same rate reported as of the preceding month.
But there has been an improvement in residential loan performance compared to the same month last year, when the rate landed at 5.2 percent.
CoreLogic Inc. delivered the data Tuesday.
In Mississippi, delinquency was 8.4 percent, higher than any other state but 50 basis points lower than in August 2016. Louisiana’s non-current rate was next at 7.8 percent, then 7.0 percent in New Jersey and New York, and 6.3 percent in Alabama.
CoreLogic Chief Economist Dr. Frank Nothaft explained in the report that oil-centric areas like Alaska and Houston are seeing rising delinquency because oil prices have fallen by half over the past three years.
At just 2.0 percent, North Dakota had the lowest rate.
Reflected in the U.S. non-current rate was a 1.9 percent 90-day rate including foreclosures. The latest level was the same as reported for July
and marked “the lowest level for any month since October 2007 when it was also 1.9 percent,” according to CoreLogic.
Also tucked away in August 2017’s non-current rate was an 0.6 percent foreclosure inventory rate, improving from 0.7 percent a month earlier.
CoreLogic President and Chief Executive Officer Frank Martell noted in the report that “foreclosure rates are at their lowest levels in more than a decade, signaling the final stages of recovery in the U.S. housing market.”
New York’s 2.1 percent foreclosure rate was the worst in the nation. Next was New Jersey’s 1.8 percent, then Maine’s 1.4 percent, Hawaii’s 1.3 percent and New Mexico’s 1.2 percent.
Colorado’s 0.2 percent foreclosure rates was the most favorable.
