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CoreLogic: Delinquencies, foreclosures stay the course in ‘relatively solid’ housing market

April marked one year and one month of delinquent mortgages declining on a yearly basis, with past-due loans sliding by 1.8 percentage points annually to a share of 2.9% of all loans, according to CoreLogic’s most recent Loan Performance Insights report.

On a monthly basis, April’s delinquency rate was up slightly from the 2.7% share in March. A strong U.S. job market and healthy income growth drove down the number of late payments at the end of last year and the start of this year, pushing the March delinquency rate to the lowest level since at least January 1999. Inflation and other economic pressures, however, appear to be having an adverse impact on some homeowners with mortgages, although delinquencies still remain near all-time lows.

Notably, while overall delinquencies were down year over year, early-stage delinquencies were up. Across all home loans, 1.2% were 30 to 59 days past due in April, compared to 1% in the same month last year.

Every state posted a year-over-year decline in its overall delinquency rates, led by Nevada (where delinquencies were down 3.2 percentage points), Hawaii (3 points) and New Jersey (2.7 points).

Meanwhile, the foreclosure rate stayed flat on a monthly and annual basis at 0.3%, although it rose slightly compared to late 2021. CoreLogic attributed the small swing to lenders ending forbearance periods for extremely delinquent borrowers and found little reflection on the state of the “relatively solid” housing market.

“The U.S. foreclosure rate edged up in spring 2022 after hitting a historic low at the end of 2021,” said Molly Boesel, CoreLogic’s principal economist. “Moratoria and forbearance that helped keep homeowners out of foreclosure are expiring for many borrowers, but ongoing strong employment numbers and large amounts of equity should keep foreclosure rates low moving forward.”

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