US Mortgage Delinquency Rate Drops to All-Time Low in May, CoreLogic Reports

Although 14 states posted small annual overall delinquency gains, mortgage performance remains solid

CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its monthly Loan Performance Insights Report for May 2023.

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Figure 1: National Overview of Loan Performance (Graphic: Business Wire)

For the month of May, 2.6% of all mortgages in the U.S. were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure), representing a 0.1 percentage point decrease compared with 2.7% in May 2022 and a 0.2 percentage point decrease compared with 2.8% in April 2023.

To gain a complete view of the mortgage market and loan performance health, CoreLogic examines all stages of delinquency. In May 2023, the U.S. delinquency and transition rates and their year-over-year changes, were as follows:

• Early-Stage Delinquencies (30 to 59 days past due): 1.3%, up from 1.1% in May 2022.
• Adverse Delinquency (60 to 89 days past due): 0.4%, up from 0.3% in May 2022.
• Serious Delinquency (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure): 1%, down from 1.3% in May 2022 and a high of 4.3% in August 2020.
• Foreclosure Inventory Rate (the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process): 0.3%, unchanged from May 2022.
• Transition Rate (the share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due): 0.6%, unchanged from May 2022.

The U.S. overall mortgage delinquency rate again fell to a historic low in May, returning to the level seen in March of this year, while the near-all-time low foreclosure rate has not changed since spring 2022. However, 14 states and nearly 170 metropolitan areas saw overall delinquencies increase year over year in May, similar to April data. Still, despite this pattern and gradually declining U.S. home price gains over the past year, overall mortgage performance remains quite healthy, boosted by steady employment numbers.

“May’s overall mortgage delinquency rate matched the all-time low, and serious delinquencies followed suit,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “Furthermore, the rate of mortgages that were six months or more past due, a measure that ballooned in 2021, has receded to a level last observed in March 2020.”

“A very strong job market continues to help borrowers pay their mortgages on time,” Boesel continued. “The U.S. economy has added nearly 25 million jobs since April 2020 and about 4 million in the last year. As a result, the unemployment rate has ranged from 3.4% to 3.7% for the past 16 months. While the job market may slightly weaken over the next year, we project that mortgage performance will remain healthy.”

State and Metro Takeaways:

• Fourteen states posted an annual increase in overall delinquency rates in May. The states with the largest increases were Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Pennsylvania (all up by 0.2 percentage points). An additional 14 states saw no change in overall delinquency rates year over year. The remaining states' annual delinquency rates dropped between 0.3 and 0.1 percentage points.
• In May, 168 U.S. metro areas posted an increase in overall year-over-year delinquency rates. Elkhart-Goshen, Indiana and Punta Gorda, Florida (both up by 1 percentage point) led, followed by Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida and Lubbock, Texas (both up by 0.9 percentage points).
• Three U.S. metro areas posted an increase in serious delinquency rates (defined as 90 days or more late on a mortgage payment) in May, while changes in other metros ranged between -1.3% and 0.0%. The metros that saw serious delinquencies increase were Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida and Punta Gorda, Florida (both up by 0.7 percentage points) and Elkhart-Goshen, Indiana (up by 0.2 percentage points).

The next CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report will be released on August 31, 2023, featuring data for June 2023. For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the CoreLogic Intelligence Blog: www.corelogic.com/intelligence.

Methodology

The data in The CoreLogic LPI report represents foreclosure and delinquency activity reported through May 2023. The data in this report accounts for only first liens against a property and does not include secondary liens. The delinquency, transition and foreclosure rates are measured only against homes that have an outstanding mortgage. Homes without mortgage liens are not subject to foreclosure and are, therefore, excluded from the analysis. CoreLogic has approximately 75% coverage of U.S. foreclosure data.

Source: CoreLogic

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About CoreLogic

CoreLogic is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. The company's combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.

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