8 states posted rising delinquencies despite 20-year low nationally

June performance insights from CoreLogic reveals declining foreclosure occurrences

8 states posted rising delinquencies despite 20-year low nationally

The performance of America’s mortgage loans continues to benefit from the strong economy and low interest rates but there are some exceptions.

Nationally, the share of mortgages that were 30 or more days past due or in some stage of foreclosure was 4% in June, down from 4.3% a year earlier.

CoreLogic’s Loan Performance Insights Report shows a 0.1 percentage point year-over-year decrease in the share of mortgages in foreclosure; the 0.4% rate ties the previous 7 months as the lowest rate for any month since at least January 1999.

“A strong economy and eight-plus years of home price growth have made mortgage foreclosure an infrequent event,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “This backdrop will help the mortgage market limit delinquencies in most of the country whenever a downturn should start.”

There was a slight increase in early-stage delinquencies (30-59 days past due) at 2.1% while there was no change in the rate for 60-89 days past due (0.6%).

The serious delinquency rate (90 days or more past due including loans in foreclosure) was 1.3% in June 2019, down from 1.7% in June 2018. That puts it at its lowest for the month of June since 2005 when it was also 1.3%; and it tied the April and May 2019 rates as the lowest for any month since it was also 1.3% in August 2005.

The share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due was 1.1% in June 2019, up from 0.9% in June 2018.

Slight rise for 8 states
Despite the strong performance overall nationally, there were slight increases in delinquencies in 8 states.

Vermont (+0.7%), New Hampshire (+0.3%), Nebraska (+0.2%) and Minnesota (0.2%) posted the highest increases while Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Connecticut experienced a nominal gain of just 0.1%.

“While the nation continues to post near-record-low mortgage delinquency rates, we are seeing signs of emerging stress in some states,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “We saw rates jump in states such as Vermont, New Hampshire, Nebraska and Minnesota that weren’t tied to a natural disaster.”