Jump in Mortgage Delinquencies Seen

Mortgage delinquency rates spiked in September, posting their largest increase since the crash year of 2008, though longer-term trends remain encouraging.

That’s according to the September Mortgage Monitor report out today by Lender Processing Services (LPS), a mortgage and credit data firm.

September mortgage delinquencies were up 7.7 percent over their August level, a big increase even when taking into account the fact that delinquencies often rise at that time of year.

“September’s increase in the delinquency rate was indeed significant, but the overall trend is still one of improvement,” said Herb Blecher, a senior vice president with LPS Applied Analytics. “Despite the monthly jump, delinquencies are down 30 percent from their January 2010 peak, and our analysis revealed some interesting factors related to the spike.”

Among those other factors was that many other measures fell during the month of September, including foreclosure starts, foreclosure sales and delinquency cures (past-due borrowers becoming current), as well as a decline in the rate of new defaults among borrowers who had obtained mortgage loan modifications.

Mortgage activity spiked in August

Newly available LPS data for August showed that new mortgage originations that month were up 13.2 percent for that month, and showed an annual increase of 42.1 percent, reaching their highest level since the refinance boom of spring 2009. Nearly a quarter of all new mortgages in August were refinances performed under the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) for low-equity and underwater mortgages.

According to LPS, the delinquency rate among all U.S. mortgages was 7.4 percent in September, with another 3.87 percent in the process of foreclosure.

States with the highest percentages of noncurrent mortgages, both delinquencies and foreclosures, were Florida, Mississippi, New Jersey, Nevada and Louisiana. The lowest rates were in states with low population densities, with Montana, Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming and North Dakota leading the list.

First published at: http://www.mortgageloan.com/jump-mortgage-delinquencies-seen-9290