Foreclosure Inventory Rate Fell Back to Pre-Crisis Level in August 2017

• The current- to 30-day transition rate held steady in August 2017 from a year earlier
• North Dakota had the lowest delinquency rate of any state
• San Francisco had the lowest delinquency rate of the largest metro areas

In August 2017, 4.6 percent of home mortgages were in some stage of delinquency, down from 5.2 percent a year earlier and the lowest for any August since 2006, when it was 4.4 percent, according to the latest CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report. The measure includes all home loans 30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure. For the month of August, the share of delinquent mortgages was highest – 11.1 percent – in August 2010.

The foreclosure inventory rate, meaning the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process, was 0.6 percent, down from 0.9 percent a year earlier. The foreclosure rate for August 2017 was the lowest level in 10 years, and fell back to pre-crisis levels. Before the foreclosure crisis began in mid-2007, the foreclosure inventory rate averaged 0.6 percent.

The share of mortgages that were 30 to 59 days past due – considered “early-stage” delinquencies – was 2 percent in August 2017, down from 2.1 percent in August 2016. The share of mortgages 60 to 89 days past due was 0.7 percent in August 2017, unchanged from August 2016.

In addition to delinquency rates, CoreLogic tracks the rate at which mortgages transition from one stage of delinquency to the next, such as going from being current to 30 days past due. Figure 1 shows that the current- to 30-day transition rate remained low in August. The August 2017 current- to 30-day rate was 0.9 percent, unchanged from August 2016. The 30- to 60-day transition rate was 16.7 percent in August 2017, up from 15.2 percent in August 2016, while the 60- to 90-day transition rate was 27.3 percent this August, up from 26.8 percent a year earlier.

Figure 2 shows the states with the highest and lowest rate of mortgages in some stage of delinquency. In August 2017 that rate was highest in Mississippi – 8.4 percent — and North Dakota had the lowest rate at 2 percent. Figure 3 shows the 30-days-or-more past-due rate for the 10 largest metro areas[1]. That rate was highest – 6.8 percent – in the New York metro area and lowest – 1.8 percent – in San Francisco. Unlike San Francisco, the New York metro area is in a judicial foreclosure state where the foreclosure process has played out more gradually.

[1] Metro areas used in this report are the ten most populous Core Based Statistical Areas.

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