Delinquencies are up and down
According to Lender Processing Services (LPS), based on the nearly 40 million loans tracked in their database, a first look at November 2011 has revealed a drop in the delinquency rate (of loans 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure) of 9.6 percent from November 2010 despite a jump in delinquencies of 2.7 from October 2011.
The total U.S. loan delinquency rate is now 8.15 percent, and the total foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate is of 4.16 percent, dropping 3.0 percent from October with a total increase of 2.0 percent year over year.
The total number of properties that are 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure is 4,144,000 with nearly half at least 90 days delinquent but still not in foreclosure. Additionally, LPS reports that there are 2,116,000 properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory. Overall, there is a total of 6,260,000 properties that are 30 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure.
Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey and Illinois have the highest percentage of non-current loans (delinquencies combined with foreclosures) while Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska and North Dakota have the lowest percentage of non-current loans.
One in five mortgages underwater
Earlier this month, we reported CoreLogic data shows that as of the third quarter, 10.7 million mortgages are underwater, 22.1 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage, and the number of homes with negative equity is down from 10.9 million in the second quarter. An additional 2.4 million borrowers a near-negative equity with under 5 percent equity in the third quarter. Near-negative equity homes and negative equity homes now account for 27.1 percent of all U.S. homes with a mortgage.
Nevada tops the list not only of having one of the highest percentages of non-current loans, it also has the highest negative equity percentage with 58 percent of all of its mortgaged properties underwater. LPS reports Florida in its top five states for having the highest share of delinquencies, just as CoreLogic reports that 44 percent of Florida’s mortgages are underwater, so it is not surprising that the top five list for delinquencies has some states in common with the top five states with underwater mortgages.
“Although slightly down, negative equity remains very high and renders many borrowers vulnerable when negative economic shocks occur, such as job loss or illness. The nearly $700 billion mortgage debt overhang has touched many corners of the market, and this overhang is holding back the recovery of the housing market and broader economy,” said Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist.
