Servicers of home loans continue to make progress in reducing the inventory of distressed mortgages, though they still have a ways to go. Helping reduce last month’s foreclosure inventory was an up tick in completed foreclosures.
The rate of residential loans that were at least 90 days past due closed out last month at 4.7 percent.
That was a significant improvement over February, when the serious delinquency rate was 4.9 percent.
An even bigger improvement has been made compared to the same month last year, when 6.0 percent of mortgages were at least 90 days past due.
The loan performance statistics were laid out in a report Tuesday from data provider CoreLogic Inc.
Florida’s 10.3 percent delinquency was the worst of any state — though the rate was 30 BPS lower than in February. After that was New Jersey’s 9.9 percent rate, followed by 7.7 percent in New York, 6.8 percent in Nevada and 6.7 percent in Maryland.
North Dakota’s 1.1 percent rate was the best in the country.
The foreclosure inventory included 720,000 properties in some stage of foreclosure as of March 31, less than the 752,000 units the previous month and 1,100,000 as of March 31, 2013.
“The inventory of homes in foreclosure and serious delinquency status are back to 2008 levels, yet remain elevated from a historical perspective,” CoreLogic Chief Economist Mark Fleming stated in the report. “While getting healthier, the housing market is a long way from being fully recovered. By way of comparison, distressed stock inventories are more than three times higher than the levels of the early 2000s, before the most-recent housing boom and subsequent financial crisis”
The foreclosure inventory rate fell to 1.8 percent in March from 1.9 percent a month earlier. In March 2013, the foreclosure rate was a downwardly revised 2.8 percent.
At 6.0 percent, New Jersey’s foreclosure rate was the highest in the country. Still, servicers knocked 20 BPS off of New Jersey’s February rate.
Florida’s 5.8 percent rate was second worst, then New York’s 4.6 percent, Maine’s 3.2 percent and Hawaii’s 3.1 percent.
All of the five-worst states require foreclosures to be processed through the court system.
Mortgage servicers completed 48,000 foreclosure in March — rising from 45,000 the previous month. February’s total was revised up from 43,000 originally reported.
In the same month last year, repossessions numbered 53,000.
From Jan. 1 through March 31, there were 143,000 loans converted to real estate owned.
