Mortgage delinquency rate in the US dropped 2.2 percent in January, while mortgage defaults plummeted 2.16 percent last month, from 2.24 percent in December
This kicks off the year on a good start, as both delinquencies and defaults resumed their downward trend after several months of increasing defaults in Q4 last year.
According to a report by the Lender Processor Services, the total US mortgage delinquency rate decreased to 7.97 percent in January, down 10.5 percent.
The foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate, however, climbed 1.1 percent to 4.15 percent last month. In addition, around 6,082,000 homes are currently 30 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure.
Experian noted that following four consecutive months of rising credit default rates, the national composite fell to 2.16 percent this January, from 2.24 percent in December. This was mostly fuelled by a drop in the first mortgage default rates, in which December’s rate of 2.19 percent fell to 2.08 percent in January.
“Second mortgage and bank card default rates also fell in January, but not by as much,” said David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee for S&P Indices
“The good news is that if you look across all loan types, their default rates are all pretty close to the three-year lows they reached in 2011, and all of them are at least cut in half from their relative maximum rates, most of which occurred in 2009.”
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