Fitch: RMBS See Continued Rise in Delinquencies Across Most Sectors

March 17, 2026 |By Anneliese Mahoney-amahoney@mba.org

(Image courtesy of Blake Wheeler Via Unsplash 830)

Fitch Ratings, New York, reported it continues to see an uptick in both 30-plus day and 90-plus day delinquencies in the collateral performance of private-label securities in U.S. RMBS 2.0 transactions as of the February 2026 remittance.

“In particular, the Non-Qualified Mortgage/Non-Prime sector has experienced elevated delinquencies relative to historical averages,” Fitch said in its latest U.S. RMBS Performance Monitor (subscription).

The report said:

• Current 30-plus day delinquencies for Prime 2.0 is 1.09%, up 22 basis points year over year;

• Current 30-plus day delinquencies for NQM/Non-Prime 2.0 is 7.26%, up 118 basis points year over year;

• Current 30-plus day delinquencies for RPL/SPL is 9.25%, up 65 basis points year over year;

• Current 30-plus day delinquencies for Home Equity is 1.36%, up 35 basis points year over year.

“Increased delinquencies in the NQM/Non-Prime 2.0 sector continues, and elevated delinquencies continue for 2023, 2024, and 2025 vintages,” the report said. “The 90+ day DQ for the 2024 and 2025 vintages is 3.71% and 1.18%, respectively, up 2.31% and 1.18% yoy, indicating newer collateral is deteriorating at a similar trend to the 2023 vintage. The 2023 vintage continues to report elevated 30+DQ at 10.95% (+2.55% YoY) but similar deterioration trends in newer vintages highlight a sector-wide performance shift, relative to earlier vintages.”

Looking at the age of loans, the 2024 and 2025 vintages track closely with the weaker 2023 vintage and are deteriorating materially faster than 2022 and earlier collateral, Fitch said.

“By contrast, the 2023 vintage shows signs of seasoning-related stability, with 90+ day DQs largely plateauing around the 24-month loan-age mark,” the report said. “NQM 90+ day DQs have risen to 3.61%, 71 bps above the RPL/SPL sector. However, actual losses remain minimal relative to Fitch’s default expectations for the asset class. The NQM ‘Bsf’ rating case default expectation for the 2025 vintage is 17.7%.”