Black Knight First Look: Early-Stage Delinquencies Improve, Serious Past-Due Loans Rise

Black Knight, Jacksonville, Fla., issued its monthly First Look Mortgage Monitor, reporting the divergence between early-stage delinquencies and seriously past-due mortgages continues to widen as fewer delinquent loans cured to current status in August.

The report said overall, the national delinquency rate fell 0.03 basis points from July after declining a combined 0.85 basis points over the prior two months, a noticeable slowing in the rate of improvement. The share of borrowers with a single missed payment had already fallen below pre-pandemic levels; in August, the sum of all early-stage delinquencies (those 30 and 60 days past due) fell 9%, dropping below that benchmark as well.

However, Black Knight noted the improvement in early-stage delinquencies was offset by a 5% increase in serious delinquencies, which have now risen in each of the past five months. The good news, Black Knight said, was that August’s rise in serious delinquencies was the mildest of those five months, suggesting that they may be nearing their peak.

The report also noted while there are nearly 2 million more seriously delinquent homeowners than at pre-pandemic levels, foreclosure activity remains muted due to active forbearance plans and foreclosure moratoriums.

Other August findings:

–Total U.S. loan delinquency rate: 6.88 percent, down by 0.53 percent from July but up by 99.2 percent from a year ago.

–Total U.S. foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate: 0.35 percent, down by 1.43 percent from July and by 27.3 percent from a year ago.

–Total foreclosure starts: 6,000, down by nearly 40 percent from July and by 83.4 percent from a year ago.

–Monthly prepayment rate: 2.70 percent, down by 0.95 percent from July but up by nearly 80 percent from a year ago.

–Properties 30 or more days past due but not in foreclosure: 3.679 million, down by 13,000 from July but up by 1.87 million from a year ago.

–Properties 90 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure: 2.37 million, up by 116,000 from July and up by 1.92 million from a year ago.

–Properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory: 187,000, down by 3,000 from July and by 66,000 from a year ago.

–Properties 30 or more days past due or in foreclosure: 3.87 million, down by 14,000 from July but up by 1.80 million from a year ago.

–States with the highest rate of non-current loans: Mississippi, Louisiana, Hawaii, New York, Florida.

–States with the lowest rate of non-current loans: Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Colorado.

–States with the highest rate of 90-plus day delinquencies: Mississippi, Louisiana, Alaska, Nevada, Hawaii.