Mortgage delinquencies continue slow and steady improvement while foreclosure activity remains muted even as forbearance exits mount, Black Knight reports.
It offered a “first look” at October 2021 month-end mortgage performance statistics derived from its loan-level database representing the majority of the national mortgage market.
The national delinquency rate continued its trend of slow but sustained improvement, falling another 4.25% to 3.74% at the end of October.
A decline of 82,000 in the number of loans 30 or more days past due brought the total number of such loans below 2 million for the first time since the run-up early on in the pandemic.
Serious delinquencies — those 90 or more days past due — saw a greater than 10% decline (-127,000) as the first wave of forbearance entrants reached the end of their terms and returned to making payments.
With the majority of plan exits in recent weeks still working through loss mitigation options with their servicers, further improvement in serious delinquency rates is expected in coming months.
Despite nearly 700,000 more seriously delinquent mortgages (including those in active forbearance plans) than prior to the pandemic, foreclosure activity continues to remain extremely limited.
Foreclosure starts edged upward by a modest 2.6% in October, as servicers continue to work through loss mitigation options with homeowners still struggling to return to making mortgage payments.
The 4000 foreclosure starts seen in October are more than 90% below 2019 levels and, despite a rise of 3,000 for the month, active foreclosure inventory remains near an all-time low.
