Late payments on home loans were lower last month. Over the past year, Los Angeles and Miami have seen huge improvements in the level of defaults.
First-mortgage delinquency improved to 3.01 percent in September from 3.16 percent during August, according to data released Tuesday by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Experian.
Around $11 trillion in loans reported by 11,500 lenders are included in Experian’s consumer credit database.
September was the ninth consecutive month that U.S. mortgage defaults had not risen. A year ago, the rate was 4.61 percent.
On second mortgages, the default rate fell to 2.13 percent from 2.39 percent. The second-mortgage rate was 3.35 percent last year at the same time.
Overall delinquency, based on a composite index, improved to 3.13 percent from 3.32 percent. The composite index reflects a total of four categories including auto loans and bank cards.
Of five major markets highlighted in the report, Miami’s 7.61 percent composite index was the highest of any metropolitan statistical area. But Miami, along with Los Angeles, maintained the biggest year-over-year declines in default rates: 40 percent and 45 percent, respectively. It was the third month of big declines for the two metros.
