March Mortgage Delinquency Rate Falls to Record Low, CoreLogic Finds

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said just 2.6% of mortgages in the United States were in a stage of delinquency in March, a new low.

CoreLogic’s latest monthly Loan Performance Insights Report showed March’s 2.6% figure for overall mortgage delinquency (defined as 30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure) compared with 2.9% in March 2022 and 3% in February.

Molly Boesel, Principal Economist for CoreLogic, pointed to the low U.S. unemployment rate as a related factor.

“While a slowing economy could cause increases in job losses and mortgage delinquencies, years of home equity gains will provide borrowers who fall behind on their payments with a cushion,” Boesel said. “This equity should protect many homeowners from foreclosures. There is no current projection that the U.S. foreclosure rate will reach the same level as it did during the housing crisis more than a decade ago.”

The report also provided data on the stages of delinquency:

• Early Stage Delinquencies (30 to 59 days past due): 1.1%, unchanged from March 2022.
• Adverse Delinquency (60 to 89 days past due): 0.3%, unchanged from March 2022.
• Serious Delinquency (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure): 1.1%, down from 1.5% in March 2022 and a high of 4.3% in August 2020. This also marks the lowest level of serious delinquencies in 23 years.
• Foreclosure Inventory Rate (the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process): 0.3%, unchanged from March 2022.
• Transition Rate (the share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due): 0.5%, unchanged from March 2022.

No state saw an annual increase in overall delinquency rates in March. The largest decline was in Alaska, which dropped by 0.9 percentage point, followed by New York, down 0.8 percentage point.

However, 20 metro areas had an increase in overall delinquency rates. No. 1 was Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., (up by 1.3 percentage points), followed by Punta Gorda, Fla., (up by 1.1 percentage points) and Bloomsburg-Berwick, Pa., (up by 0.7 percentage point).

Only three metro areas showed an annual increase in serious delinquency rates. Those were also Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., (up by 1.1 percentage points), Punta Gorda, Fla., (up by 1 percentage point) and Bloomsburg-Berwick, Pa., (up by 0.1 percentage point).

“As in previous months, several metro areas on Florida’s Gulf Coast continue to see elevated serious delinquency rates as a result of the lingering effects of last fall’s Hurricane Ian,” CoreLogic said in a release.