CoreLogic: U.S. Overall Delinquency Rate at 3.1% in December

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CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., reported that the U.S. overall delinquency rate was flat year-over-year, but dropped slightly from November.

In December, 3.1% of all mortgages in the U.S. were in some stage of delinquency, which CoreLogic defines as 30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure.

The foreclosure inventory rate was 0.2% in December, down from 0.3% in December 2023, and tying the lowest for any month going back to at least January 1999.

Early-stage delinquencies–defined as 30 to 59 days past due–are at 1.6%, flat from December 2023.

Adverse delinquencies–defined as 60 to 89 days past due–are at 0.5%, unchanged from December 2023.

Serious delinquencies–defined as 90 days or more past due and including loans in foreclosure–are at 1%, also flat year-over-year.

The transition rate, or the share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due, is at 0.8%, down from 0.9% in December 2023.

“National-level delinquency rates for December show a mortgage market with strong performance, with 97% of borrowers making on-time payments. The rate is unchanged from a year earlier and a bit better than a month earlier,” said Molly Boesel, Principal Economist for CoreLogic. “Drilling down to the metro level, some promising trends emerged with the number of metropolitan areas showing increases in delinquencies falling from 80% in November to 36% in December. Strong mortgage performance reflects a strong economy and labor market.” 

Ten states did see year-over-year increases in mortgage delinquency rates. The state with the largest gains were Florida, up by 0.7 percentage point, South Carolina, up by 0.4 percentage point, and North Carolina and Georgia, both up by 0.3 percentage point.