U.S. Mortgage Delinquencies Continue to Fall in February, CoreLogic Reports

National foreclosure inventory rate remains at 0.2%, a historic low, but slowing equity may erode financial protections

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its monthly Loan Performance Insights Report for February 2022.

For the month of February, 3.2% of all mortgages in the U.S. were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure), representing a 2.5 percentage-point decrease compared to February 2021, when it was 5.7%.

To gain a complete view of the mortgage market and loan performance health, CoreLogic examines all stages of delinquency. In February 2022, the U.S. delinquency and transition rates, and their year-over-year changes, were as follows:

• Early-Stage Delinquencies (30 to 59 days past due): 1.3%, down from 1.5% in February 2021.
• Adverse Delinquency (60 to 89 days past due): 0.3%, down from 0.5% in February 2021.
• Serious Delinquency (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure): 1.6%, down from 3.7% in February 2021 and a high of 4.3% in August 2020.
• Foreclosure Inventory Rate (the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process): 0.2%, down from 0.3% in February 2021. This remains the lowest foreclosure rate recorded since at least January 1999.
• Transition Rate (the share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due): 0.8%, down from 0.9% in February 2021.

The U.S. overall delinquency rate fell to another historic low in February. This marked the 11^th straight month of declines, with all states and metro areas recording annual drops in delinquencies. Home price growth continued to intensify as this year’s traditionally busy spring real estate season began, with prices rising by almost 21% since March 2021. However, national appreciation is expected to cool to around 6% by March 2023, which could cause equity gains to slow for homeowners in some areas of the country, providing less protection from mortgage defaults for those who fall behind on their payments.

“While job and income gains have helped push delinquency rates lower, some families continue to face financial stress,” said CoreLogic chief economist Dr. Frank Nothaft. “One-half of the borrowers who are seriously delinquent are behind on their payments by six or more months. Even though this group has been declining, the number that have missed at least six monthly payments is still double what it was in the months immediately prior to the pandemic.”

State and Metro Takeaways:

• In February, all states logged year-over-year declines in their overall delinquency rate. The states with the largest declines were Nevada (down 3.9 percentage points), Hawaii and Louisiana (both down 3.7 percentage points). The remaining states, including the District of Columbia, registered annual delinquency rate declines between 3.6 percentage points and 1.3 percentage points.
• All U.S. metro areas posted at least a small annual decrease in overall delinquency rates, with Odessa, Texas (7.2%); Laredo, Texas (6.7%) and Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, Hawaii (5.4%) showing the largest declines.

The next CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report will be released on June 14 2022, featuring data for March 2022. For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the CoreLogic Intelligence Blog: www.corelogic.com/intelligence.

Methodology

The data in the CoreLogic LPI Report represents foreclosure and delinquency activity reported through February 2022. The data in this report accounts for only first liens against a property and does not include secondary liens. The delinquency, transition and foreclosure rates are measured only against homes that have an outstanding mortgage. Homes without mortgage liens are not subject to foreclosure and are, therefore, excluded from the analysis. CoreLogic has approximately 75% coverage of U.S. foreclosure data.

Source: CoreLogic

The data provided is for use only by the primary recipient or the primary recipient's publication or broadcast. This data may not be re-sold, republished or licensed to any other source, including publications and sources owned by the primary recipient's parent company without prior written permission from CoreLogic. Any CoreLogic data used for publication or broadcast, in whole or in part, must be sourced as coming from CoreLogic, a data and analytics company. For use with broadcast or web content, the citation must directly accompany first reference of the data. If the data is illustrated with maps, charts, graphs or other visual elements, the CoreLogic logo must be included on screen or website. For questions, analysis or interpretation of the data, contact Robin Wachner at [e-mail]. Data provided may not be modified without the prior written permission of CoreLogic. Do not use the data in any unlawful manner. This data is compiled from public records, contributory databases and proprietary analytics, and its accuracy is dependent upon these sources.

About CoreLogic

CoreLogic is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. The company's combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.

CORELOGIC and the CoreLogic logo are trademarks of CoreLogic, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.