For four months in a row now, serious delinquency on first mortgages has increased. Among the nation’s biggest cities, a Texas town has the lowest level of late loans.
First mortgages that were past due at least 90 days in December accounted for 2.19 percent of first liens outstanding.
The 90-day rate climbed from the 2.17 percent November rate.
The delinquency statistics were released Tuesday by Standard &Â Poor’s Ratings Service and Experian. The numbers reflect data on around $11 trillion in outstanding loans sourced from 11,500 lenders.
But delinquency has improved from December 2010, when the 90-day rate was 2.93 percent.
The second-mortgage delinquency rate was also worse, climbing to 1.33 percent from November’s 1.26 percent. But there was an improvement from the prior December’s 1.74 percent.
Factoring in bank cards and auto loans, the composite delinquency rate edged up to 2.24 percent from 2.22 percent three months earlier and fell from 3.01 percent a year earlier.
Among the five-biggest metropolitan statistical areas tracked by S&PÂ and Experian, Miami’s 4.73 percent composite rate was worst and Dallas’ 1.56 percent was best.
