Delinquencies and Foreclosures Decline in July 2017

• The U.S. foreclosure rate remained at a 10-year low in July 2017
• The current-to 30-day transition rate edged down in July 2017 from a year earlier
• Denver had the lowest foreclosure rate of the largest metro areas

In July 2017, 4.6 percent of home mortgages were in some stage of delinquency, down from 5.5 percent a year earlier and the lowest for any July 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 July, the share of delinquent mortgages was highest – 11.1 percent – in July 2010.

The foreclosure inventory rate, meaning the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process, was 0.7 percent, down from 0.9 percent a year earlier. The foreclosure rate has held steady for the past four months at the lowest level in 10 years. 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 July 2017, down from 2.3 percent in July 2016. The share of mortgages 60 to 89 days past due was 0.7 percent in July 2017, unchanged from July 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 July. The July 2017 current- to 30-day rate was 0.9 percent, down from 1.1 percent in July 2016. The 30- to 60-day transition rate was 17.4 percent in July 2017, down from 17.9 percent in July 2016, while the 60- to 90-day transition rate was 28.3 percent this July, down from 29.3 percent a year earlier.

Figure 2 shows the states with the highest and lowest rate of mortgages in some stage of delinquency. In July 2017 that rate was highest in Mississippi – 8.4 percent — and North Dakota had the lowest rate at 2.1 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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