Delinquency on home loans tumbled in March, while the foreclosure rate also improved. But new foreclosure filings leapt.
As of the end of last month, there were 3,162,000 residential loans that were at least 30 days overdue or in the foreclosure pre-sale inventory.
The distressed
mortgage count improved from February, with the number of units retreating by 350,000 on a month-over-month basis.
The decline was even more significant on a year-over-year basis, with the inventory plunging by 678,000.
Black Knight Financial Services reported the performance metrics on Wednesday.
March’s distressed loan count put the
non-current mortgage rate at 6.25 percent.
The rate dropped from
6.94 percent a month earlier and 7.65 percent a year earlier.
Mississippi had a 12.37 percent non-current rate last month, the worst of any state. New Jersey’s 10.78 percent was next, then 9.66 percent in Louisiana, 9.33 percent in New York and 8.96 percent in Maine.
In North Dakota, total delinquency stood at 2.05 percent — the lowest in the nation.
Excluding foreclosures, the 30-day U.S. rate was 4.70 percent in March, sinking from the previous month’s 5.36 percent — when the rate was already at its lowest level since August 2007. Delinquency has also significantly improved from 5.52 percent during March 2014.
The foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate was 1.55 percent last month, better than 1.58 percent in February and 2.13 percent in March 2014.
But not all the news from Black Knight was good.
Foreclosure starts came in at 94,100 — soaring from 79,700 the previous month. New filings also deteriorated from 88,100 in March 2014.
